When Lightning Strikes
by bladeofthebookworms
Summary: Cold. Distant. Impassive. It's the only way Link feels he can live. The only way for him to hide the truth from the people of Hyrule - the truth that, inside, he is terrified. Broken. Uncertain. But the deception comes at a heavy cost, one that he can no longer hide when lightning strikes and a terrible mistake is made. Rated T for darkness and violence.
1. Chapter 1

**WHEN LIGHTNING STRIKES**

**==]—= **... **=—[==**

**Warning: Accidental suicide attempt, self-harm. This also takes place in a mostly medieval society, so public knowledge about depression is highly limited. Not very graphically violent, only the slightest hints of Zellink; rated 'T' **_**only **_**because of dark material. Please only read if you feel confident in your mental health, or don't read until both parts of the story are posted so you can get right to the happy-ish ending.**

**==]—=** ... **=—[==**

"Return to the castle. And tell that to my father _please."_

She turned, shoulders stiff with shame and frustration. Was a little freedom too much to ask?

More specifically… was a little respite from _his _cold presence too much to ask?

The soft brush of his footsteps through the grass rushed through her ears and her spine stiffened with anger. Unable to contain herself a second longer, she whirled to face him. "And _stop following me! _I don't care what your orders are; I cannot stand to be in your presence - I must insist you _leave me alone!"_

He had stopped walking towards her. But he met her gaze with the same empty coldness that usually painted his features. _So apparently the Goddesses wanted a mindless puppet?_

_Thus far he truly hasn't shown a sign of having a mind of his own._

_If they're trying to tell me I have to become like _him _in order to awaken my powers…_

It would never happen.

With a huff, she returned her attention to the shrine, closely inspecting the runes across the barred door. Trying to allow more pleasant thoughts to fill her mind, she raised the Sheikah Slate and snapped several pictures of the runes for further interpretation and investigation later.

"Princess… I was instructed to bring you back home."

For a moment she was stunned by the sound of his voice; then her lip curled in disgust as she realized it was just as unbearably steady, as unbearably _emotionless, _as everything else about him.

Feeling her anger rising, she faced him once again, willing herself not to lose her temper a second time. "Do you never question the path that has been decided for you?" she sneered, marching back to her horse, her soul stinging with jealousy and distaste.

Sir Link. The Hero of Hyrule, chosen by the Sword that seals the darkness.

He was a blank slate. Empty face, empty eyes. Did he even have a soul? It didn't seem like it.

Certainly he had proven his skill in battle. Certainly he had saved her from a guardian's beam, destroying months of research in the process. Certainly he had drawn the Master Sword from its pedestal in the Lost Woods.

Other than that, he did not seem to feel anything. He did not seem to _think _anything. Every minute of every day, he wore the same solid expression. Cold. Soulless. _Empty._

_I could never be like him. Nor would I ever want to be._

_Dear Hylia, please tell me there's another way!_

**==]—=** ... **=—[==**

Lightning flashed; thunder shook the castle to its core. The brief glare of light illuminated his arms - illuminated the scars.

Most were on his left. They were messy - some diagonal, some criss-crossing the other way, some nearly horizontal, others vertical.

Some old and white and faded. Others fresh, swollen, pink. A few were long, narrow scabs, only just beginning to heal. It was interesting, he thought, how some scars became smooth and shiny as time passed, while others transformed into ropy lines raised from the rest of his skin.

It was the only way he could keep himself going. The only way he could release the pent-up fears, and doubts, and insecurities, and stress… The only way he could restore balance to his soul.

He slid his hunting knife from his belt, swallowing tightly. It was sharp - he'd worked hard to make it so. In close quarters, a knife would be far more useful in combat than the long, elegant Master Sword.

Here, late at night, when he knew that the Princess could not hear, when he knew that no other guards were coming his way on patrol, his knife served a different purpose.

It was frustrating that it seemed to never cut as deep into his own flesh as it did into the flesh of beasts, or enemies. _My stupid mind, holding my strength back without my even realizing it, _he thought glumly, placing the knife along the underside of his left arm (he was running out of room elsewhere) and beginning the first cut.

It was the third, and fourth, and fifth cuts that hurt the worst. When he slashed the knife along its previous marks, gouging deeper into his flesh. He was well-accustomed to pain, but even so, his body tensed with each cut going forward from the tenth. And still, the blood was slow to come. _Not enough. I need this pain - I deserve this pain. I'm not good enough for the role they've chosen for me - I don't deserve any of the things they say I am. I am not a hero._

But what choice did he have? "_Oh, hello, King Rhoam - I might have drawn the Master Sword, but there must have been a mistake; you'll have to choose someone else. Preferably someone whose mind isn't as broken as mine."_

It didn't work like that. For whatever reason, he had been chosen. _So now I just have to live with it._

_Which means I can't let anyone see. Can't let anyone know._

Lightning struck again, horrendously close, with a mighty crash of thunder that caused his heart to leap into his throat as he jumped from his place beside the Princess' bedroom door. A sudden flash of pain. Inhaling deeply, he tried to calm his racing heart and return to his task.

His mouth went suddenly dry. The bloodied knife fell from his shaking hand, landing with a clatter on the stone floor. "No…"

In that moment, when lightning struck, he'd accidentally cut himself where he'd sworn not to. And the cut was deep - far deeper than he'd ever meant to cut.

In that moment of sudden fear, instinct had overcome the barriers of his mind. His strength had not been curbed. And the veins in his wrist had been severed - blood poured from his hand, painfully fast with every beat of his panicking heart, burning with ice-cold fire that stung. "No… _oh, no…"_

Desperately he clamped his right hand over the wound, willing himself to breathe deeply, to stay calm. His fingers quickly grew damp and sticky with his own blood. "Please, _no…"_

_What do I do? What do I do?_

_Tell someone? Get help?_

_No! What would they do - what would the King do if he found out that the knight assigned to his daughter would do such a thing?!_

He couldn't tell anyone. But a wound like this… _Can I stop it on my own?_

He had a sword, and a knife. That was it. Those were his only resources.

With a shaking hand he let go of his wrist, wincing as the flow of blood seemed to intensify, and snatched his knife from the ground. As carefully as he could, he slipped it under the left sleeve of his undershirt and cut it away. He was starting to feel cold; his left hand was going numb, and his fingers were trembling violently out of fear. With one hand he lifted the strip of his sleeve and draped it over his upper arm, grabbing one end in his teeth and grabbing the other in his fingers, looping it into a knot and pulling it tight.

The second knot was nearly impossible.

When he pulled the cloth in his right hand up around the cloth clenched in his teeth, his first knot loosened; if he finished the second knot right then the tourniquet would be too loose. His heart rate was picking up - whether from panic or blood loss he couldn't tell. Inhaling as deeply as he could, he pulled the first knot tight again and attempted the second once more.

Only to fail.

And fail a third time.

And fail again.

And again.

And again.

There were tears in his eyes as he finally abandoned the task and instead pressed his good hand tightly against the vein he was trying to stop, closing his eyes tightly. _I'm going to die, _he thought, his heart hammering rapidly against his ribcage.

It wouldn't be fast. It wouldn't be painless. It would take half an hour at least, and then he would be gone.

A sudden realization struck his mind with the force of a Goron's fist.

_If I die, the Master Sword will have to choose someone else._

_Someone more worthy._

_Someone who isn't… broken._

He struggled to swallow past the lump in his throat. _That isn't so bad, is it?_

No.

It was a good thing.

It was what was best for the kingdom.

_I've failed._

Leaning against the wall, he slowly slid down until he was sitting, knees close to his chest, on the ground. _I'm going to die._ The thought occurred to him that if he raised his wrist above his head, he might be able to slow the flow of blood…

_But what does it matter? I'm not going to get help - not going to let anyone see the truth about their 'hero.' So trying to stop the blood… it'll just make the whole thing take longer._

He shivered. Sucked in a shuddering breath, let it slowly out. Let his arms fall to his sides.

_They'll find me dead. They'll see the knife, and my wrist, and the blood. They'll see the other cuts on my arms and know exactly what happened._

And by then… there would be no point in hiding it. The Master Sword would have to choose someone else; the world could forget about him, give their hope to someone more capable, more worthy. The state of his mind wouldn't matter to anyone at that point.

_So now I just wait._

Each beat of his heart sent stinging fire through his wrist. With each beat of his heart he could feel more blood pulsing out of his body. He felt… he felt _terrified. _

_Is death the end? Will I just… disappear? Will I _end?

No. That couldn't be it. He had _seen _the ghost of his father floating over the green battlefield where he had been slain. He would go on.

_And… my parents? What will they think when I see them again?_

His soul ached. That was a simple question to answer - they would be disappointed. Would shun him. Would turn away, ashamed to be related to him. _I've failed everything._

His vision wavered for a moment and he wiped his eyes with his good hand before realizing there were no tears. His head was beginning to feel fuzzy, as if his thoughts had been scattered across the Lost Woods and he had to search through the heavy mist to find them again.

A sudden scream.

Link's eyes flashed open; he'd had no idea they slipped closed.

_The Princess._

_Am I… imagining…?_

"Help!"

Decidedly not.

With a grunt he stumbled to his feet, swaying slightly and slumping against the wall, gasping great lungfuls of air, as he fought to regain control of his mind and body. Staggering, he pushed open the door and walked into the Princess' quarters, his eyes widening upon seeing her sprinting towards him.

"_You certainly took your time," _she hissed, her voice crisp with fear as she hid behind him.

There was a Yiga in the room, tall, burly, armed with a sleek longsword. "I thought you'd given up," he sneered, stepping over an overturned chair towards the two of them. "No matter. In this state, you're no threat to me."

Link didn't respond, mentally offering a prayer to the Goddesses. _Please… I can't do this alone._

With a roar the Yiga lunged towards him, blade whirring through the air. Link yanked the Master Sword from its sheath in time to block the blow and instantly snapped his own sword forward, drawing blood on the assassin's shoulder. Growling, the Yiga lashed back; Link met his blows with as much strength as he had, but with each successful parry he could feel a peculiar ache spreading through his body as blood continued to seep from his wrist. _Weakness._

He landed another blow, slashing deep into the assassin's side. With a roar the man lunged with the speed and strength of the desperate and slammed his blade forward; Link trembled from the effort as he pushed the sword away and attempted an attack of his own, but the assassin easily knocked his blade from his hand.

_Great._

The Yiga paused, caught by surprise. Link pulled his hunting knife from his belt and launched himself forward with a ragged cry, attempting to bury it in the other man's heart or throat, only to feel the breath knocked from his lungs and find himself suddenly lying on the ground, struggling for breath as fresh blood seeped from a gash across his ribs.

The image of the assassin's eerie mask wavered before his eyes. His mouth dry, Link reached out with his good hand, praying for deliverance, and felt his fingers close around the Master Sword.

"Hero of Hyrule indeed," the Yiga man scoffed, raising his longsword in preparation to stab him through the heart.

_And once he does that… the Princess…_

He would accept his own death. But not hers.

Gasping from the exertion of it, he swung the Master Sword upwards in a smooth, graceful arc, severing the neck of the assassin looming over him. The man's head and blade tumbled uselessly to the ground, and with a groan, Link pushed himself to a sitting position and crawled away from the mess.

The Princess was staring at the dead man, her eyes wide and nearly unseeing as she struggled for breath. Then her gaze landed on Link, and she whimpered softly.

"_Help!" _she screamed again, hurrying to his side. Link finally reached the wall and slumped against it, his head swirling painfully, his body burning, as his life spilled free in crimson rivers. Exhausted, he tilted his head back, waiting in bone-weary fear as the world faded around him, the Princess's screams melding into indistinct sounds as the colors of her rom blurred into black...

**==]—=** ... **=—[==**

When he found himself awakening, alive, in the castle's infirmary, his first reaction was to feel relieved.

And… then he realized that to live through what had happened was possibly eons worse than accidentally dying by his hand.

_They'll see the scars; they'll see my wrist, and they'll know what happened._

_And now I'm alive._

_Which means that nothing has changed - except for how they'll treat me._

_What will they do?_

He wouldn't find out that day, or even that week.

But as his strength returned, and he saw two guards entering the infirmary and coming for him with shackles, his stomach twisted into a knot - it couldn't be good.

"Wh-where are you taking me?" he asked shakily as one of the men fastened the cuffs around his wrists. He winced inwardly; his attempt to use the emotionless facade he'd hidden behind before had failed.

"To the King," one man answered gruffly.

Link struggled to swallow past the lump in his throat. _This is bad._

The two guards each kept a firm hand around his upper arms as they walked out of the infirmary, and he found yet another thing to despise about himself - his height. _How could _anyone _have thought I could be a hero? It… it couldn't have been meant to be. I can't do this - I'm not good enough._

_I could never be good enough._

He curled his hands into fists, trying to keep them from shaking and rattling the chains. Dread seeped through his soul, filling him with ice and nausea. _I failed. I failed every expectation they had for me - so now…_

_Now I'm to be punished?_

It made sense. And he knew he deserved it. _A hero needs to be strong, and dependable, and - and not broken in the head. I wasn't good enough for them._

He was surprised when, instead of taking him to the upper levels of the castle, where the throne room was, or to the library and the king's study that adjoined, the two guards took him downwards, past the knight barracks, past he servants quarters.

To the dungeons.

He felt as if his innards had been liquefied. All at once it seemed difficult to breathe; his heart was hammering much too quickly, and he could no longer keep his chains from rattling. _Sweet Goddesses, no!_

He was afraid - he couldn't deny it, though he forced his features to remain blank and impassive. But more than that, he was angry.

Angry at himself, for failing so thoroughly that the King saw fit to put him behind bars.

For falling far below the expectations laid upon him.

For drawing the Master Sword.

For believing, even for a short while, that _he _could ever be the kingdom's hero, magical blade or not.

The guards halted before a cell near the front of the dungeon - a cell without walls, but with bars, going from floor to ceiling on every side. And standing beside that cell was King Rhoam himself, eyes stern and cold beneath snowy white brows.

"Link, son of Nudge of the Royal Guard," the King greeted him, "wielder of the blade of evil's bane." He paused. "Do you care to explain yourself?"

Link tried, in vain, to swallow. It was impossible. Heart pounding with anxiety, he glanced at the two men on either side of him, still grasping his arms. "Sire, c-could this possibly be a… a _private _conversation?"

Explaining to the King would be difficult enough. Explaining to the King in front of an audience would be worse.

"Either these guards stay, or you can tell the entire council."

Link bowed his head, squirming uncomfortably. "I - I'm sorry, sire. I c-can explain here." How strange - years of forcing himself to hide behind a mask of calm indifference, all undone by one moment of instinct.

"Very well. Go ahead."

Link inhaled deeply, trying to prepare himself, and opened his mouth. But the words didn't come. He stared at the King, tears stinging behind his eyes, his heart racing nauseatingly as his mind went suddenly, painfully, blank.

"It was an accident," he blurted out all at once. The desperation in his voice startled him. "Sire, I - I - there was lightning, close to the castle; I was startled, and - and the knife slipped, and -"

"But you _were _using the knife on yourself," the King growled.

Why was it so hard to breathe? "Y-yes," Link whispered, shame burning up his cheeks as he bowed his head, fighting against the tears threatening behind his eyes. "I… I'm not worthy. N-not for this. I - I can't measure up; I'm not… not _good enough…"_

The King rubbed a weary hand over his face. "Hylia, preserve us," he muttered under his breath. "One would think she would choose someone _else_ to bear the Master Sword."

Link flinched. "I know," he agreed brokenly. "I… I _wish _they would choose another. Wh-when I thought I was going to… to die… I hoped that they might."

Rhoam's eyes narrowed dangerously. "That is dangerous thinking, young man. Never, in the history of this kingdom, have the Goddesses chosen _any _replacements. Before the era of the Hero of the Winds, Ganon struck Hyrule hard. The people prayed for salvation - but the chosen hero never appeared. The entire kingdom was flooded to prevent the world's utter destruction.

"Did the Goddesses just decide _not _to choose a hero?" Rhoam's features tightened into a stern scowl. "Or did the hero, finding his burden too much to bear, take the _coward's _way out and end it all?"

Link sucked in a sharp breath, curling his hands into fists and digging his fingernails into his skin.

_Failure. Coward. Weak. Not good enough. Not strong enough. Not brave enough._

His will faltered; a tear escaped from his eye. Praying that the King had not seen, he bowed his head even farther.

"Your death would doom us all, boy," Rhoam spat. "And if your death occurred by your own hand, the result would be even worse. The people would think you'd given up hope. And if the very person meant to save them all decided there was no hope, what do you think would happen to them? They would lose their own hope, as well. And they would lose faith. They would begin to _believe _that Ganon will win, and at that point… half the battle against him will be over. Your death would destroy this kingdom."

Another tear fell, dripping to the ancient stones beneath his feet. Link bit his lip hard, trying to focus on his breathing, fighting not to crumble beneath the ache on his shoulders. "But I didn't _try _to kill myself," he protested weakly, despising the hoarseness in his voice. "It… it was an _accident…"_

Rhoam strode forward and Link flinched as the large man gripped his left sleeve and wrenched it up to his shoulder, exposing lines of scars to the flickering lamplight. "Look me in the eye," the King commanded, "and tell me that you have never considered taking your life."

Link's throat went dry; his breath caught as he raised his head to meet his sovereign's stormy gaze. "I…" He grimaced, eyes squeezing shut as another tear trickled down his cheek. "_I can't," _he admitted breathlessly, shoulders slumping in defeat.

When the King next spoke, his voice was cold. "Link, son of Nudge, I hereby strip from you your position as Appointed Knight to the Princess Zelda, and your station as a Knight of the Royal Guard. However, I lack the authority to remove the title of Chosen Hero from your name. Thus, to preserve this kingdom through preserving the bearer of the Master Sword, I declare unto you your sentence.

"From this day until the day of Calamity Ganon's return, you will remain here, in this cell. To ensure that your skill in battle never wanes, as we depend upon that skill for our survival, warriors of this kingdom will meet with you daily and engage you in combat. At that time, the shackles around your wrists will be removed, but those around your ankles, soon to be placed, shall remain. Should you refuse to fight, my warriors are hereby granted permission to provoke you to engage in combat using any means they deem necessary.

"When not in combat, you shall be locked in a position in which it will be impossible for you to take measures to harm or kill yourself. You have been placed in this cell because it lacks any objects with which it would be possible to harm or kill yourself. Finally, as one more measure to protect your life, I command you to take the Master Sword and lay it down across the passageway from your cell. A dulled wooden blade will be provided for your training, and when the Calamity returns, you will be permitted to take up your true weapon once again.

"Your are forbidden from having any visitors, to prevent the possibility of a collaborative escape or murder attempt. The first warrior to visit you each day will bring food and water; you will be required to nourish yourself through any means necessary.

"As long as I am King of Hyrule, or until I see fit, this punishment stands. Now. The Master Sword."

Link felt numb. He could barely breathe; the severity of his situation was too much to fully comprehend. Barely trusting his legs to support his weight, he walked at his escorts' urging to the wall facing his soon-to-be- cell. Swallowing thickly, he drew the sacred blade from its sheath across his shoulders, feeling it pulse slightly in his grip as he set it down carefully.

'_I will wait for you, Master.'_

Trembling, he straightened and turned to face the King. He was barely aware as the two guards took him into the cell and fastened his wrists directly to the wall before snapping shackles attached to long chains anchored in the wall around his ankles.

The guards left the cell.

They shut and locked the door with a rusty creak.

They bowed to the King.

Following their monarch, they left the dungeons.

And Link was alone.

He sucked in a deep, shuddering breath, eyes wide as more hot tears burned down his cheeks. That breath turned into another, and another, until he was shaking with dry, breathless sobs, tugging fruitlessly at the manacles pinning him against the wall, feeling his soul rent seemingly to pieces by guilt and self-loathing.

_Why would they choose me? _Why me?!


	2. Chapter 2

**WHEN LIGHTNING STRIKES**

**==]—=** ... **=—[==**

**Here's the second part of this; sorry for the real monster of a chapter! There are more moments of... good things, for lack of a better way to describe, than the last chapter, but it's still pretty depressing. Nevertheless, I hope you all have a great day!**

**Thank you all so much for your support! I've really enjoyed reading your comments; I never expected to receive this much feedback!**

**Guest: Yes indeed - poor Link! What's worse, I think, is that this is real life for many people. Hopefully not the getting-thrown-into-prison part, but certainly the emotions and thoughts going through his head are inspired by reality.**

**James Birdsong: Thank you! I'm glad you approve, and as this is a topic very important to me I'm happy you thought it felt well-written!**

**==]—=** ... **=—[==**

_Finally! _Zelda cheered inwardly, hurrying into the infirmary.

For the first time in _weeks _there were no soldiers standing guard beside the door, turning away any who wanted to visit. Zelda had tried to get in every day, desperate to see what had become of the Appointed Knight.

_Link._

Her insides seemed to shrivel as she remembered seeing him burst into her chambers, frightfully pale, the entire left side of his body crimson with blood. In the terror of the moment, with the assassin hot on her heels, she had barely noticed.

But when the threat was gone, her life miraculously saved, and she saw her knight crawling slowly to the wall with his left arm curled against his chest, she saw everything.

And it destroyed everything she thought she'd known about him.

Seeing that he was injured, leaving a streak of blood behind him, she had gone quickly to see what she could be done, crying out desperately for help.

Then he flipped over, resting his back against the wall, and her heart seemed to forget its purpose for a moment or two.

His left sleeve had been torn away, revealing a myriad of marks on his arm that she didn't immediately recognize as scars, for there were so many of them. The longest was, perhaps, two inches long; they truly were very small.

They couldn't have been battle wounds.

Ice had trickled through her veins as she realized what had happened. And she saw the fresh wounds, a diagonal mark carved about halfway between his hand and his elbow. Further down, a much deeper gash seeped blood at a horrifying rate; it wouldn't have required a scholar to deduce what had happened.

Without wasting another second, seeing that Sir Link's eyes had slipped closed while his breaths were frighteningly swift and shallow, she found the largest vein in his arm and pressed against it with all of her strength, just as she had read, before screaming herself hoarse in an attempt to get help.

Over the weeks that followed, she had tried, every day, to visit him in the infirmary. To apologize. _I treated him so terribly - it must have been because of me that he did those things to himself! If only I had just thought to look a little _deeper… _If only I was not so quick to judge_…

She could not remember smiling over those days. She couldn't remember her father smiling, either; if anything, more wrinkles lined his face, and his eyes glistened with sadness. She asked him, several times, to let her see her Appointed Knight; with every attempt the King merely sighed and rubbed a weary hand over his face. "We don't want to overwhelm him," he explained sadly.

But now, at long last, there were no soldiers by the door.

Zelda hurried past the rows of beds, her gaze lingering upon each one as she searched for the familiar golden-haired head. But he wasn't there.

At once she assumed the worst. _He's not here - has he _died? _Why was I not informed?!_

After a second thorough investigation of the infirmary, she all but ran through the halls, into the library, past the glorious shelves of books. Throwing open the door to her father's study, she asked breathlessly, "Where is Sir Link?"

Again that weary sigh. Her father sat at his desk, not turning to face her, but instead gazing down at piles of papers and books neatly stacked on the polished wood surface.

Zelda's throat went dry. "Father, _where is my Appointed Knight?" _she demanded, terrified to hear the answer.

Rhoam finally turned to her, his eyes looking older than ever. "Zelda… the position of your Appointed Knight has been reassigned to Sir Jassom, the captain of the Royal Guard. As the second-best swordsman in this kingdom, and a loyal knight, I trust him to watch over you."

Tears were stinging her eyes. "What about Link? He was doing a perfectly fine job!"

"I thought you despised him," the King raised an eyebrow at her.

Zelda flinched, lowering her gaze. "I shouldn't have," she whispered. "He had given me no reason to feel that way about him."

Rhoam sighed yet again. "Regardless, Jassom will now be your protector."

"Then where is Link? You still have not answered my question!" Zelda accused, beginning to feel desperate.

Her father looked away, eyes darting back to the papers on his desk. "One day you will understand," he murmured raggedly. "The most difficult part about being a leader is that the needs of the many must come before the needs of the few. Right now… right now we _need _the bearer of the Master Sword. If there is even the slightest chance that he is at risk of death, by his own hand or the hand of another, it is my duty as the ruler of this kingdom to preserve his life. For without him, without the hero chosen by the sword, we are doomed. The Master Sword, the Goddesses… they do not choose replacements."

Zelda swallowed thickly. "Father, _where is Link?" _she repeated, her throat dry with dread.

But the King merely shook his head. "I believe you have certain duties to attend. Link is not the only one who must fulfill his destiny."

**==]—=** ... **=—[==**

"Any luck?" Daruk asked anxiously, a hulking shadow in the black night.

Zelda twisted her hands. Three days since her conversation with the King. The Goron Champion had come to the castle upon her request; as someone who she knew felt a brotherly connection with the missing hero, he was the first person she had thought to ask. "Nothing yet. I've searched everywhere I could think of that I had access to - the knight quarters, the training grounds, the stables… What about you?"

Daruk scratched his head. "Not sure how helpful this'll be, but I did hear a couple guards coming out of a tavern when I searched through Castle Town. They were complainin' about orders to fight some guy in the dungeons. Doesn't make much sense to me, but I've got this awful feeling…"

Zelda shuddered. "Why would a _prisoner _be engaged in combat?" she mused aloud. "It seems terribly risky; what if he managed to kill one of them? _Fighting _a prisoner?"

"Something about keeping his skills sharp," Daruk added, his brow furrowed with concern.

Zelda bit her lip. Her father's words rang through her mind…

_Preserve the bearer of the Master Sword…_

_Doomed without the hero…_

_Slightest risk of death…_

"You don't suppose…" she whispered faintly, unable to finish the thought.

Daruk's gaze hardened. "That the guy in the dungeons is Link?" He cracked his knuckles menacingly. "I dunno, Princess, but if it is, let me tell ya - when I find out who's responsible -"

"It was my father," Zelda murmured, feeling cold. "He feels that it is necessary to put the Calamity's threat to the kingdom over… over Link's struggles."

The Goron's jaw dropped. "But - but - _by putting him into prison?! _There's gotta be a better way!"

"My father doesn't trust him with his own life," Zelda realized. "He's… he's trying to make it impossible for Link to… _die… _before his duty is fulfilled." Nausea twisted her stomach; it wasn't right. It _couldn't _be right. She could understand her father's reasoning, but at the memory of seeing Link's left arm, marred by self-inflicted scars and a gushing wound in his wrist, a wound that nearly bled him to death…

If he had felt that terrible about himself _then… _

_What must he think _now, _locked in a cell somewhere, all alone?_

**==]—=** ... **=—[==**

"_Sire, I've come to report about… about the boy."_

"_Go on."_

"_Well.. it's just that… Hylian Champion though he may be, he cannot fight for twelve straight hours in a day. It's been a week, sire, and yesterday my men could barely get him to move."_

"_I told you what to do should he refuse -"_

"_Pardon my interruption, but we've done as ordered. It wasn't that he was refusing; he was certainly trying. But he could barely stand, let alone wield a sword. By the end of the day, when the last man unchained him for a duel, he collapsed and… and either would not, or could not, get back up, despite our… efforts. His body has been worked too hard."_

"_Very well. Then I will expect only eight full hours each day from him, and allow him two hours' rest between each one. Perhaps that will help. But he cannot deteriorate while in that cell; his skills must remain sharp so that he may conquer the Calamity when the time comes."_

"_Yes, sire."_

**==]—=** ... **=—[==**

Daruk's discovery of Link's clothes - specifically his Royal Guard uniform - untouched in a little chest in the knight barracks had changed the flow of the tide in her favor. As a Princess, she had been - on occasion by force - forbidden from entering the dungeons. Daruk, too, had been turned back every time he tried.

But if she were dressed as a Royal Guard…

If she did it at night, perhaps no one would look too closely.

Daruk was just outside of her outward-facing door, as they'd planned. She could hear him talking with Sir Jassom, distracting the knight while she made preparations.

_Link never would have been distracted._

The thought brought an ache to her heart. His lack of response to everyone had prompted her to believe he didn't have any friends to be distracted by, when in reality, she realized, he had been putting every ounce of his effort into his position as her knight. Upon initially finding that Mipha and Daruk both cared about his well-being, she had been stupefied. How could anyone like _him _have friends, she had wondered.

_I was so cruel._

Inhaling deeply, she stuffed her hair into the round cap worn by the guards and pulled the thick white gloves up to her elbows. _Alright… that should do it._

_Now… as long as Daruk does his part…_

There were two entrances to her room; one led deeper into the castle, and the other would take her outside. Both were guarded, but after the Yiga assassin managed to enter her room so easily through the outer door, it was determined that Sir Jassom would always be posted there throughout the night.

Which certainly complicated her plans to escape through the dungeons.

As stealthily as she could, she tiptoed to the outer door and slowly slid a handkerchief through the crack at the bottom. Jassom, facing away from the door, wouldn't see. But it would signal Daruk to put his part of the plan into motion.

"Hey, uh, so it's been great talking with you and all," she heard Daruk say, sounding a bit uncomfortable. "But all this talk of fighting styles has worked me up an appetite! Got any nice rocks around? Good hard granite, maybe?"

Jassom's frustrated growl. "We don't have any _rocks._ But I believe the kitchens usually have a few leftovers…"

"Hmm… that'll do," the Goron chuckled heartily. "So where is it? Sorry; I'm still getting used to the lay of the land, here!"

"Go over that way…"

The voices began to fade. Heart hammering wildly, Zelda poked the door open and squeezed out into the brisk night air, shutting the door securely behind her and crouching low to the ground. She saw Daruk give Jassom a hearty pat on the back, knocking him several steps downward, further away from the door. "Ya can't just point in some random direction - you _know _this place! I've only been here a couple times. I need some guidance, brother!"

They were moving steadily down the many sets of stairs leading to the grassy little meadow perched upon the ledge just beneath her bedroom. Zelda swallowed tightly, her mouth painfully dry, following at a distance. At last they reached the meadow and Jassom, visibly exasperated, took Daruk to the westward edge and jabbed frustratedly in the vague direction of the kitchen.

Zelda hurried down the last several sets of stairs and dove behind a pillar, pressing herself to the stone wall rising up back towards her bedroom, struggling to breathe as she waited in agony of suspense for Jassom to return up the stairs.

Daruk headed off in the direction the Appointed Knight had indicated, and Jassom himself finally turned back to the stairs, shaking his head and grumbling under his breath. Zelda closed her eyes, listening as he stormed up the steps above her, armor clanking. Only when the night was still once more did she dare move from the shadow of the staircase and slither forward.

Down another set of stairs. Across a sturdy bridge; a sharp right and down yet one more staircase to the path directly beneath the bridge to her study. Following that path down, down, down, under a bridge, past torches…

At that point, the silence of the night seemed even more still. The main castle was far above; only bridges and the castle wall remained, with knights stationed every now and then. Under yet one more bridge, continuing down the dark, lonely path.

And then, there it was - the little known outside entrance to the dungeons. The lockup, as it was sometimes called. It was barred by a thick iron grate; a knight stood leaning tiredly against his halberd near the lever meant to crank it open.

"Y'here to relieve Nikko?" the man yawned.

Zelda nodded, not trusting herself to speak. _This was a stupid plan - I look nothing like a Royal Guard!_

But the knight on duty heaved a sigh, winching open the entrance to the lockup. Performing the Royal Guard salute she'd seen Link perform so many times, she squared her shoulders and stepped inside, trying to emanate an aura of confidence. _I _am _supposed to be here; I _am _supposed to be here…_

Her boots splashed in a thin layer of water pooled on the ground as a peculiar sound echoed around the weathered stone walls. It was a sound she never expected to hear, especially from _him - _from her calm, emotionless knight.

"_Please… please, I'll do better… I promise…"_

She peered around a corner, her heart aching as its rapid pace intensified.

"There's no need for that, Link. Try to stand, alright?"

The Hero of Hyrule was on his hands and knees in a cell, shuddering. A Royal Guard stood over him, gripping a wooden practice blade in his hands; a similar blade lay discarded near Link's right hand. "You can do it. Get to your feet."

With a breathless groan Link pushed himself upwards only to collapse with a ragged cry, his body trembling violently. "C-can't," he croaked, lifting his head barely an inch from the ground before letting it knock down against the dirty floor, his chest heaving with ragged sobs. "I can't… can't do it…"

"You know what I have to do, then." The Guard sounded miserable, but he did not hesitate to bring his blade down mercilessly across Link's shoulder blades, drawing a sharp cry from the boy. Again and again and again.

Link twisted with each blow, his limbs jerking as he struggled to get himself up. "Please! I'm sorry - I'm _sorry!" _The wooden sword smacked down again. "_I - I'll do better! _I'm trying - _please!"_

Zelda's eyes burned.

She had never once seen him show any kind of emotion at all.

And now here he was, trapped in a cell, crying out as solid blows landed on his body again and again, as he fought with himself to stand.

"Get up! Please, Link! You have to stand!" The Royal Guard sounded desperate, even as he landed another vicious blow on Link's back and the boy writhed, heaving for breath, eyes scrunched shut with pain.

Zelda couldn't take it a moment longer. She stepped closer to the cell, rapping her knuckles firmly against the wooden beams framing the slightly-ajar door.

The Guard turned, in surprise, and his shoulders sagged in relief. "Is it time?" he asked, instantly ceasing his attack. "_Thank Hylia._ I'll leave you to lock him back up."

He pressed his wooden sword and a small key into her hands and all but bolted from the dungeons, his head bowed low.

Zelda swallowed tightly, slowly stepping into the cell. Link was still struggling to stand, quivering and twitching feebly, seemingly unaware that the other man had left. Hesitantly she approached him, kneeling at his side and placing a gentle hand on his trembling shoulder, his thin undershirt drenched in perspiration.

The hero flinched away from her touch, whimpering softly, his breaths frightfully swift and uneven. Zelda swallowed tightly, gently rubbing circles on his shoulder, but he groaned in pain, flinching away again. Quickly she withdrew her hand.

"M'sorry," Link mumbled, tears trickling down his clammy cheeks as he let his forehead rest against the ground. "C-can't do it… n-not good enough…" A choked sob escaped his throat and he went limp. "I'm _sorry…"_

"Link, that's not…"

He turned his head at the sound of her voice, eyes widening. "Princess," he realized, grimacing, slowly letting his cheek fall back against the ground as shame burned pink across his cheeks. "I… m'sorry… kneel if I could…" His voice wavered with regret and his eyelids fluttered closed. She saw him wince and bite down, hard, on his chapped lip, drawing a drop of blood.

"There is no reason for you to apologize," she told him softly, her heart aching. "But there certainly is reason for me. The way I treated you was entirely unfair; I… I used you as a means of venting my own frustrations with myself. I was… _jealous _because of how… how easily it seemed you drew the Master Sword, when I myself was so inadequate. It was shameful behavior, Link, and… and because of that..."

"No!" Link protested, looking up at her again. _When did his cheeks become so hollow? _"F-forgive me, Princess - you've done… nothing wrong…" He sucked in a shuddering breath, coughing slightly. "You bear… bear the burden… w-with grace and - and… _and courage." _A soft whimper, barely audible, escaped his throat as fresh tears escaped his eyes and he shut them fiercely. "And… _just look at me."_

Zelda swallowed thickly. It had never occurred to her that it was the weight of destiny that had been tearing him apart. _I thought… I thought it was just me, and how I spoke to him…_

_Perhaps it's both? A combination of circumstance and - and prejudice?_

"I do not understand," she admitted. "You dealt with the pressure so well that no one could have guessed you were… feeling this way. I… I certainly had no idea." _But it was illogical for me to think what I did about him - that he was merely _gifted, _blessed in all things, never experiencing any hardship._

Link jerked his head to the side in denial. "D-doesn't matter. B-because I've ruined it - I've _failed. _W-wasn't strong enough… c-couldn't do it… I wasn't good enough… _worthless!"_ He met her gaze, eyes wide and pleading. "M'not good enough… It was too much… means I'm not good enough… not worthy…"

"No," Zelda murmured, reaching out and brushing his sweat-matted hair out of his eyes. "Link, you _are _good enough. You saved my life from that assassin, even… even wounded."

His body trembled violently. "If it'd… happened any later, I… I would've been…" He swallowed audibly, his limbs convulsing slightly inwards as if he were trying to curl himself into a ball. "I d-didn't mean to," he whispered, his breaths coming faster. "I - I p-promise you, I would never actually do it! I w-wouldn't have… w-wasn't _trying _to g-go that far. I was - I - it's the only way f-for me to f-f-feel better; I've never… n-never been strong enough for th-th-this - the knife - it made everything right. M-made me feel like I c-could live w-with myself, w-w-with the eyes of everyone, everywhere, w-with their expectations…" He was sobbing by then, halfway curled in the fetal position, his head tucked downwards. "M'sorry," he gasped, chest heaving. "I d-d-didn't mean to; there was a b-bolt of lightning and I jumped and the knife slipped and - and I just - I t-tried to stop it, stop the b-blood, but I couldn't; I w-wasn't good enough, n-not strong enough…"

Zelda stared at him, feeling numb. Images flashed through her mind - his left sleeve torn away, a bloodied wadded-up cloth falling from his wrist…

_It was an accident, all along._

"I'm sorry!" Link wept. "_I'm sorry…"_

_And now the guilt is consuming him - along with everything else he was struggling with before._

_And my father's guards are coming in, ordering him to fight, to train, until he collapses from exhaustion. And then they beat him until he stands._

She could tell him that it wasn't his fault, that it wasn't anyone's fault, that no one should have to suffer what he was going through. But the way things were going, she was certain he would protest, would refuse to believe her, even subconsciously. So she made a different choice.

Gently, she slid her fingers to his hands, wincing at the sight of skin rubbed raw, and slowly stroked his knuckles. "I forgive you," she told him, praying that it would help in some way. _I don't believe you suffer blame in this, but I can see that you seek forgiveness, and that you most certainly deserve it._

He looked up at her, eyes widening at her words, and his features softened; though the flow of tears continued, and his breaths remained uneven and desperate, the barest hint of a smile twitched at his lips. She couldn't help her own smile as she lightly squeezed his trembling hands. But his features darkened, and he let his head clonk back to the floor of the cell. "... don't deserve…" he mumbled under his breath, yet more tears coursing down his cheeks. "N-not… from you… _failed _you…"

"I believe _I _am the one to decide whether or not you deserve it," she said slowly. "After all, I am the one forgiving you."

"Sh-shouldn't," Link croaked with a violent tremor. "F-failed…"

His strength was waning; she could hear it in his voice, could see it in his glazed eyes. He was exhausted, in the truest sense of the world. Though she wanted to keep talking with him, to try and help him, it would be cruel to keep him awake much longer. With a heavy sigh, forcing a smile back to her face, she moved her hand to his cheek and gently brushed his hair out of his face. "You… haven't failed me, Link. You haven't failed anyone. Try to sleep, alright?"

With a slight grunt he nodded, closing his eyes tightly even as a few more tears dripped down his cheeks. She stroked his hair, as her mother had when she was young, until at last his breaths had deepened and she knew he was asleep.

_I do not know him, _she realized sadly. _Everything I thought was entirely wrong._

The Hero of Hyrule. The Chosen Hero. Wielder of the Blade that seals the darkness - which now rested sadly on its side across the corridor.

There were other titles, she knew. Each spoke of his destiny, or of his skill. Each placed expectations upon his shoulders.

And those expectations were, she realized, horribly accurate.

If she failed to awaken her sealing powers, the fate of the world would rest solely on his slender shoulders. Certainly, the Divine Beasts and Champions and guardians would help. But it was never they who were faced with the task of facing Ganon; it was always the Goddesses' Chosen.

She frowned, reflecting on the histories she'd read about. _And… truly… most of the time it is only the Chosen Hero who is tasked with actually battling Ganon. The princess with the blood of the Goddess might have the power to _seal _him, but she was only ever able to do that once the hero defeated him in battle._

_So with or without me, the kingdom's survival depends on Link being victorious._

She could understand her father's point of view, then. Without the hero, all was lost. Rhoam knew that measures had to be taken to keep him alive, whether he wanted to live or not.

Link's word's rang in her mind - "_I d-didn't mean to. I - I p-promise you, I would never actually do it!"_

She knew he had been speaking the truth. Though he had never displayed any sort of emotion in her presence, she knew he took his duties seriously. She knew it from the solemnity of his gaze in her presence, from the tension in his shoulders whenever he was guarding her - always ready for the worst. She knew it from the way he insisted upon searching her room every evening, in the way he tested a portion of her food before each meal to see if it was poisoned - which it was, once, and though his face betrayed no emotion he went a sickly color of whitish-green and had to be replaced by another guard for two days afterward.

She knew it in the way he practiced with the Master Sword at every available moment, no matter the time of day, no matter the weather, always striving to be ready.

He was fully aware of the burdens upon his shoulders. As such, he took those burdens far more seriously than everything else. That, she realized, was why he had never dared show emotion.

With the pressures placed upon him, he felt that no one could know about what he was really feeling. For if they knew that their hero, their hope, there one real chance against the Calamity, was nothing more than a boy struggling to find himself, struggling to believe in himself…

Zelda realized that he was afraid - afraid of failure. Failure to bring hope to others. Failure to perform his duties. Failure to defeat the Calamity. And considering the weights dragging him down, it was no surprise to her that he harbored those fears.

Anger pierced her heart, fierce as a hot coal. _And what did my father do?_

Link was terrified of failure. So much so that when he felt he didn't measure up, he punished himself. Though others would never know, could never guess, that he had made a mistake, it didn't matter to him. He punished himself - physically, with a knife, and mentally, with words. _Worthless, _he'd called himself. He despised himself.

When he'd made _that_ mistake, one impossible to hide, his fears confronted him head-on.

And her father had removed what titles he could from him. Had taken from him his knightly duties, and his duty to protect her. She could almost hear Link's voice in her mind - "_I let him down; I wasn't good enough. I failed to complete my responsibilities. I failed the _King!"

Now, of course, he was in the dungeons, dishonored, alone. Knights would come down, for long hours every day, judging by his current condition, and spar with him until he no longer had the strength to stand, at which point they would beat him. "_I can't even lift a sword," _he whispered in her mind. "_I can't even win against other knights. What chance do I have against the Calamity? I've doomed us all; I've failed."_

If he had hated himself _before, _when he was still her knight, when the King had faith in him… she could only imagine how much worse he was feeling _now. _In a prison cell. Worked until his body could take no more. Bruised from blows dealt when he could no longer stand. Alone, with time to think about everything that had happened.

Heavy footsteps splashed through the water and Zelda's heart shot up into her throat with a thrill of electric terror until she saw the familiar hulking silhouette. "Daruk," she sighed, relieved. "How did you get in?"

The Goron smiled grimly. "Got to the kitchens, and they were just about to send someone down to bring food to Link. Told 'em I'd do it instead; explained the whole thing to the guy out front, and they let me in, no problem. Shoulda tried that earlier!" But his chuckle died abruptly as he squeezed into the cell. "Little brother…"

"He's… asleep," Zelda murmured. "I do not know when he will awaken, or when the next round of guards will come in. Daruk, I… it's so much worse than we thought."

"I can see that," he muttered, sitting down. "We gotta do something. Personally I'm all for breakin' him outta here."

Zelda couldn't help but smile at that, but there was no humor in her soul. "I do not think my father is truly aware of his state. So… I need you to bring him down here for me. He needs to see."

Daruk's eyes widened. "Tell the _King? _But he's the one who didn't want us down here in the first place! I'm sure he knows!"

"But has he seen it?" Zelda pleaded. "Please - this is what we have to do. If it doesn't work, then… then I agree that more drastic measures should be taken."

Daruk swallowed audibly. "I dunno if we'd even be able to get down here again. And… you might get in a lot of trouble."

Zelda nodded, biting her lip. Rhoam would be furious with her.

But as she gazed down at Link's tearstained face, noticed his sunken cheeks and unkempt hair, saw the way his shirt hung loosely from his shoulders… "He's worth it."

**==]—=** ... **=—[==**

The clanking of armor and splash of footsteps jerked Zelda from slumber. For a moment fear stole her breath as she saw the iron bars and cold stone walls around her, as she breathed in the smoke-choked air of the lockup.

Then she felt Link's head resting in her lap, and her hands holding him there, and she remembered what had happened.

"Zelda. What in _Nayru's name _are you doing in there?"

Her mouth felt suddenly dry as she looked up, seeing her father standing in the doorway. _Just breathe. Be brave._ "There is something you need to see," she said, speaking softly so as not to disturb Link. "You… you need to let him go free."

"I've told you before - I cannot do that," Rhoam growled. "Not when I cannot trust him to live."

"You're only making it worse by keeping him here," she protested. "He feels terrible - about himself, about what happened, even though it was an accident. By the time the Calamity comes and you free him, he might just be so disgusted by himself that he takes the Master Sword and uses it to kill himself. Keeping him down here, alone, in darkness, is accomplishing nothing but making him feel even worse about himself. Let him go!"

"And awaken tomorrow to find that he's dead?" Rhoam shook his head. "You do not understand."

Zelda clenched her teeth. "Fine. If you refuse to have empathy, look at it another way. Your men have been working him too hard; at the moment he can barely stand, let alone wield a sword -"

"If I may," Sir Jassom interrupted from his place at Rhoam's side. He glared at Zelda, his scowl clearly expressing his frustration with her escape. "I believe I can get him to stand."

His voice sent chills up her spine and she held Link tighter. "No - leave him alone," she protested. "He's been through enough -"

"Zelda!" Rhoam barked. "Get out of that cell before I have to drag you out myself. You will see that the _Chosen Hero_ is perfectly capable of _standing. _I might have worked him too hard in the beginning, but I've lessened the hours; he should have no difficulty."

Zelda shook her head, holding Link's limp form close, but as her new Appointed Knight stepped forward, eyes narrowed, her courage faltered and she gently lowered him to the ground before getting to her feet and walking, shoulders slumped, from the cell.

"And where did you get those clothes?" Rhoam demanded, looking her up and down. "When I find the man who lent them to you -"

"No one lent them - I found them with Link's things," she admitted meekly.

"Shame upon you, daughter."

Zelda flinched.

**==]—=** ... **=—[==**

"_Link!"_

The voice was like the crack of a whip, and he jerked awake, struggling to raise his heavy, aching eyelids. His vision smeared, but he could just make out a large group of people standing just outside the cell.

Among them, the Princess. Link's heart warmed as he recalled her kindness before he fell asleep - a gentle touch, a gentle voice, warm with sincerity. Though he had never been angry or upset with her when she lashed out at him in the past (instead he had been angry at himself), it had felt incredible to realize that she actually cared about him, regardless of whether or not he deserved it. She had brought light to his soul.

His eyes drifted sideways, and he wished he could shrink. King Rhoam stood silhouetted by the torchlight, eyes narrowed. Shame burned his soul, worse than the flaming ache assaulting every one of his overused muscles. _I failed him - I failed everyone._

Tears stung his eyes, and he ground his teeth together, trying to force them away.

"Get up," a new voice demanded, cold. _Sir Jassom… _"Link, get up! Take up your weapon!"

_Oh, no… _Sucking in a harsh breath, he forced his stiff limbs to move. _Come on… _

Every moment burned. Every movement piped acid through his veins instead of blood; he couldn't stop a grunt of pain from escaping his throat. He trembled from the pain of it, of simply moving; forcing his eyes shut, focusing on his breath - _Farore, even his lungs were sore_ \- and struggling to lift himself up.

"Get up!" Jassom demanded, losing patience. "The kingdom needs you - or do you want to fail them, too?"

And the tears were back. _Jassom. _Jassom always knew where his weaknesses were. With a strangled cry he shoved himself upwards with all of his strength, stumbling backwards and slamming his bruised back against the wall, gasping from the pain of it. His legs trembled violently, begging for relief, but he refused them - _Can't fail again - this time I'll do it - won't fail - _

He opened his eyes, breathing heavily, leaning desperately against the wall.

Jassom sneered. "Pick up your sword." He gestured to the pathetic wooden weapon lying on the ground. Link swallowed anxiously, sliding one foot forward over the ground. Like a newborn foal trying out its legs for the first time, he shuffled forward, hands outstretched for balance, slowly making his way to the weapon on the ground. _Pathetic. Weak. An embarrassment to everyone._

Tension blossomed between his shoulder blades and he inhaled deeply, cautiously bending down and grimacing as the strain on his calves and thighs increased. _I should be able to do this! It should be easy!_

_Worthless. Weak. Stupid._

Blinking rapidly to keep the tears back, he straightened, breathing heavily.

"There," Jassom said smugly, turning back to the King. "Of _course _he can stand."

"But can he fight?" Rhoam pressed.

"He's more than just a weapon!" Zelda protested, her eyes stormy with rage. "Leave him alone!"

Link stared at her. She was… she wanted him out of the cell?

"_I forgive you." _

She cared. He didn't deserve it, but she cared. She didn't want him to have to do this, even though he knew he had to. The sentiment, for some reason, made his eyes burn even worse.

_She cares._

Jassom's blow came out of nowhere. Not fast enough to raise his sword, the knight's wooden blade crashed down on his side, mercilessly slamming against his ribs. Winded, Link crumpled sideways to his knees, struggling to maintain a grip on his blade even as he clutched his chest with his left hand, choking for breath. His mind wavered - Zelda was saying something, glaring at her father; Jassom loomed over him, smirking.

"_The greatest swordsman in the kingdom - no more," _he mocked, his words ricocheting oddly through Link's ears.

It was all happening so quickly. A sharp whistling - fresh stinging pain stung his back, again and again and again. He knew what that meant by now; with a slight cough he gathered his limbs beneath him again, shuddering, trying to stand.

"Get up!" Jassom commanded, striking again and again. Zelda shouted for him to stop; Link could see her through blurred vision, trying to get to him, held back by her father's guards.

"Get up!" Jassom repeated. "Get up!"

_Worthless. Weak. Failure._

He had failed everyone. He stared at the Princess, clinging to the memory of her soothing words, of her gentle touch.

_I've failed everyone but her._

_She forgave me._

_Which means the slate is wiped clean, right? I have another chance to _not _let her down._

Blows rained down on him. His body burned. His skin, bruised as it was, had developed a heartbeat all its own. With a sharp cry he forced himself to his feet again, only to find the world tilt violently, frightfully sideways, and something hit his head with enough force to crack a rock. He could barely hear his own cry of pain. Could barely hear himself voicing the words he'd uttered so many times before.

"_I'm trying…. I'm trying… trying…"_

He was weeping again. He could feel the tears wet upon his face, hot and sticky.

Worthless. Weak. Failure.

The Princess' sweet voice - "_I forgive you."_

Pain racing up and down his body as he fought to get up, fought to remain conscious, fought to crawl closer to the wall - _use it to pull myself up - _fought to silence the sneering voices in his mind.

_I won't fail you! Not again! Please!_

He realized he'd spoken the words out loud as his gaze rested upon the Princess for the briefest moment before Jassom swung the wooden blade in a parabolic motion, first beneath his hunched-over frame before striking his stomach with gut-wrenching force. Link's arms gave way and he dropped flat to the ground, clutching desperately at his aching stomach. Nausea rose up within him; the strikes continued to come, one after the other, upon his torso, now facing upwards. Barely realizing what was happening he heaved, nothing but stomach fluids spilling from his mouth. His vision smeared; he could barely hear anything over the thumping of his heart, could barely feel anything but the pain smarting over his beaten body.

Suddenly Zelda was there in his cell again, having broken free from the guards' grasp; she darted towards him as Jassom's wooden blade swung down once more as if in slow motion. Then the Princess was kneeling by his side, turned away, raising her hand as if to stop the weapon's trajectory. "No!" she shouted, her voice fierce, cutting through the haze of Link's mind.

A flash of bright golden light, and for a single blessed moment the pain was gone. Zelda's free hand on his shoulder, gentle as ever. Nothing but peace filled his mind and soul.

And then the light was gone, and the pain returned, and he lost the battle with consciousness.


	3. Chapter 3

**WHEN LIGHTNING STRIKES**

**==]—=** ... **=—[==**

**Guest: I agree! I love the Zelda games, but seriously - Link never has an easy life! I guess that can be seen as a parallel to reality, though, because no one has an easy life, even if it seems like it from the outside. ( :**

**==]—=** ... **=—[==**

For some inexplicable reason, he awakened with the hope that things would be different.

And… in a way, they were.

He could feel something soft beneath his aching back. A mattress. _I'm… in an actual bed…_

His eyes flashed open, and his hopes were painfully crushed. The familiar grimy stone of the dungeon loomed above his head. And as he struggled to sit up, he realized with a sinking heart that his wrists were chained at his sides to the bed.

And, as he shifted uncomfortably in place, it was more of a plank with a shoddy mattress dumped on it than an actual bed. _I… can't move._

He inhaled shakily, closing his eyes and trying to will away the tears. _The Goddesses know I've shed far too many over the past… weeks._

With a painful-sounding creak, he heard his cell door open and twisted his head to see the Princess hurrying inside, Sir Jassom remaining dutifully at the door. Link stiffened at the sight of the man, remembering the most recent beating at his hands. And that memory stirred others...

"_Raise your sword and fight me, boy! We'll see who the true wielder of the Master Sword is meant to be!"_

"_I can't do that, sir. The King has summoned me -"_

"_Ooh, so you're speaking with the _King _now. Aren't you _special. _Don't you think? Orphaned brat with the build of a stalkoblin. Wretch! Get over here and fight me - that's an order!"_

The beating that followed at Jassom's hands - one of many - had hurt. But only here, helpless in the cell, had he been weak enough to actually show his fear, his pain, to the knight jealous of his destiny.

"Link?" the Princess asked softly, approaching him with a gentle hand outstretched. "I - I'm sorry; this is _not _what I asked my father to do, but… he never listens anyway. I suppose I was lucky he would do _this _much - but I wish it was more."

"The bed?" Link tried to clarify, giving his shackles another experimental tug. They didn't budge - only rubbed painfully against his blistered wrists.

Zelda - _the Princess, _he scolded himself - nodded. "And he's also agreed to let me visit more often, for which I am certainly quite grateful." She took a shaky breath and looked over her shoulder, eyes narrowing. "Sir Jassom, I am _trying _to have a decent conversation. Hand me the keys to his shackles, please."

Link tensed as the knight neared, his heart pounding with the aftermath of unpleasant memories.

"I'll be watching you, boy," Jassom growled, dropping the small key into the Princess's palm.

"_Thank _you Jassom; you may return to your post," she told him, her voice dripping with false sweetness. With a heavy sigh, she bent over Link's wrists, gently unlocking the heavy iron cuffs from around them. Eagerly he tried to sit up, only to gasp when darkness crowded his vision and the pain in his arms and shoulders burned anew.

"S-sorry," he mumbled, blinking furiously and shaking his head to clear his sight. "But - thank you."

She lowered her voice. "I… what I _really _wanted my father to do was release you. You've done nothing wrong -"

Link interrupted her with a bitter laugh. "You know that's not true." His soul ached; he curled his arms around himself, feeling cold.

"But it was an accident!" she protested. "And - and he _knows _it was an accident!"

_But after it happened, I felt as if… as if it was a good thing._

_Selfish pig._

"It doesn't matter if it was an accident or not," Link mumbled, staring fixedly at the wall, trying to force the tears away. _Worthless. _"The point is, I… I'm not _right. _No - no _sane _person would ever - ever think of… of doing anything like that. But I -" he gulped "- I have. And I've - I've _tortured _myself; I've actually… actually made myself hurt, which would sound - would sound _d-despicable _to anyone e-else." A shiver dripped down his spin and he held himself tighter, digging the sides of his hands into his ribs. It was getting harder to breathe. "I'm not _right."_

_Stupid._

_Failure._

_Worthless._

Drawing in a shaking breath, he continued, "The point is, I… I can't be trusted. Not like this. H-how could _anyone _trust me to - to do _anything… _when they don't know if they can… depend on me? When they don't know if… if I'll be gone the next day, or the next week, or the next year… when they don't know if I won't just take the blade they expect to save them all and put it through my own heart or my neck or my stomach…" He shook his head, slowly relaxing his grip around his middle and instead allowing his right hand to curl around his left wrist. Where the sleeve of his shirt wasn't quite long enough to cover the thick, jagged scar right over blue veins beneath his skin.

He finally dared to look up, to meet the Princess's gaze. And he wished he hadn't - there were tears in her eyes. _Idiot! Selfish! She has her own struggles, far worse than yours! She shouldn't have to be burdened with more! She shouldn't have to care!_

_She can't care!_

_She doesn't care!_

_Who would ever care?_

_You don't deserve it._

_You don't deserve friendship._

_You don't deserve love._

_You are worthless - not worthy of anything, not worthy of any good thing ever to come to anyone._

He swallowed tightly, looking away. He could hear his father's gentle voice, could feel the large hand on his small shoulder - a shoulder that trembled with sobs.

"_No one is worthless, Link."_

_But _I _am, _he thought, curling his fingers into tight fists. _I've proved you wrong._

Shame scalded his soul, and he turned again to the Princess. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Jassom.

_I've failed._

"Please," he whispered, hatred towards himself curdling his innards as he let one tear slip. "Go away."

The Princess inhaled sharply, her hand flying out to grasp his knee. "No," she told him flatly. "Link, there's nothing wrong with you. You are exactly as you were meant to be…"

He could barely focus on her words after her first sentence. _Nothing wrong with me…_

_Which means I'm just weak. Stupid. Worthless. Better of _dead!

He scrunched his eyes shut, teeth tightly clenched, and realized that he wasn't breathing.

_Nothing wrong with you._

_Worthless! Disgusting! Weak! Never should have been _born!

The rage was building in his soul. The terrible empty sensation of helplessness and shame. More tears escaped his weary eyes and he swallowed tightly, struggling to maintain control, to hold himself together, but it was too much.

With a frail cry, he slammed his head backwards, into the stone of the cell wall. And again. And again. And again. It hurt - his ears were ringing; something wet and sticky was running down his neck, and the pain - the pain was like white-hot ice burning into his head.

But it was good. It was punishment. Punishment that he deserved for… for being _him._

He was sobbing, and he barely realized it. Gentle hands - the Princess had pulled him into an embrace, gently stroking his back, her voice wavering with uncertainty - Jassom barging into the cell; fear - pain, raised voices, Jassom's features twisted with rage and disgust - he was on his back again; shackles clicked around his worn wrists - the Princess reaching out for him as her Appointed Knight dragged her away -

And then he was alone, yanking fruitlessly at his cuffs, tears coursing down his cheeks as breathless gasps escaped his throat. He felt exposed, helpless, ashamed. There were no thoughts - only pain, and a burning desire to disappear, and disappear forever, and become nothing.

**==]—=** ... **=—[==**

He wanted to stop. To end.

But that wasn't an option. Not as long as the Master Sword lay just outside of his cell, out of his reach.

_To die now would be the cruelest, most selfish thing I could ever do._

He couldn't bring himself to give up.

But that didn't mean he couldn't force himself to suffer.

He couldn't bear to eat anything; the mere thought made his stomach feel bloated. When the daily meal arrived, he couldn't bring himself to touch it. For the first few days his stomach ached, but after that… nothing.

It was reported, by someone, somewhere, and it wasn't long after that that physicians began entering his cell with a long, ominous tube. Guards held him down while the tube was forced, excruciatingly, down his throat. He convulsed, gagging, as liquefied food was poured through the tube; shuddering, with tears of pain and humiliation streaking down his dirty cheeks, he struggled against the process as much as he could - which only made everything hurt worse.

They came in once a week. By the fifth time, he was already weeping before they'd had a chance to insert their horrid tube. At the end of it all, he lay still, shuddering, still pinned on his back, occasionally vomiting and proceeding to choke on the vomit as he was unable to turn onto his side.

The message was clear - _you are not allowed to die._

Every day, like clockwork, knights would come to his cell every hour, expecting him to fight. And he fought - he fought until his trembling limbs could no longer bear his weight, at which point whoever was currently attacking him would beat him until it was apparent that he truly could not stand.

_I am a weapon. Nothing more. As soon as Ganon's gone, I'm dead._

The faint glimmer of hope that he was deserving of any form of compassion steadily faded, day by day.

Zelda visited often. He hated himself for forgetting to think of her with her proper title. He hated being seen by her at his lowest. _She can't possibly care, _he thought, ducking his head between his shoulders each time she stood before him. _Who would? I'm not worth it. Just a weapon._

There came a day when she seemed especially cheerful. For a moment, seeing her bright smile, his spirits lifted - surely where she was, sadness was but a bad dream.

"I don't believe it - I finally caught one!" she beamed, holding something cupped in her hand. "I just _had _to show you!"

She lifted her hand, and his heart skipped a beat.

It was frog. Something green, something living, something that came from _out-of-here._ The fog in his mind, the cloud over his heart, seemed to dissipate, and tears of astonishment pricked at his eyes. It was a simple creature, but in his mind, it was a miracle.

Slowly he held out his shaking, bony hands, and with a slight laugh Zelda held the frog closer to him. With a light chirp it plopped itself into his palms and gazed up at him with golden eyes. He gaped at it, heart pounding, aching, with longing.

To be outside… to be _free… _to hear birds sing and crickets chirp and toads croak, to feel a breeze on his face and grass beneath his toes and see the wide blue sky above…

He was trembling from the agony of it all. And then with another chirp the frog launched itself away and he found himself staring at empty hands, empty shaking hands just above skinny wrists ringed with raw, blistered skin…

It was unreasonable, and he knew it, but the frog's sudden abandonment of his grasp felt like a rejection of the worst sort. _Even _it _knows that I am worthless. _Slowly his hands crept upwards and his head drooped until they made contact, and tears soon drenched his palms as his shoulders trembled.

"Link, I… I'm sorry," Zelda murmured, sounding surprised and hurt, gently reaching out and placing a hand on his forearm. "I… I thought it might make you… _happy."_

"_I don't deserve happiness," _he mumbled through shaking tears, believing it with all of his heart. _How could I? _His soul ached with guilt - she shouldn't have to feel offended because of his reaction. _Further proof of how useless I am. Can't do anything right._

_Why can't I die?! _Why?

Before he knew it he was sobbing into her shoulder as she held him close. She didn't say a word, and for that he was grateful. There were no words that could do anything to help - but her presence, calm, enfolding him in warmth and compassion…

For the first time in months, he felt safe.

**==]—=** ... **=—[==**

Zelda stood in the castle courtyard, alone, concentrating on holding a sphere of golden light above her palm. Focusing on Link. _I will not let him face this alone._

She would learn to control this power. She would learn to use it, to do as much as she possibly could to lift the weight of the world from Link's shoulders.

"_The Goddesses saw fit to bless you," _her father had marvelled, immediately following her intervention in the dungeons. "_How? You were not praying…"_

"_I only felt… well, Link was in pain," _she'd tried to explain, twisting her hand bashfully. "_He was… hurting, and not just physically. I could not stand to see it go on."_

"_So… the Goddesses intervened to protect the Hero."_

Zelda had opened her mouth to protest. That wasn't it, as far as she knew. It was concern, compassion, love, and a desire to protect - all of it so strong that the barriers in her mind and soul were unlocked, releasing what had been there all along.

But if her father believed _this… _

She could use it to save Link.

"_You have been working him far to hard," _she said immediately. "_And you threw him into a cell - like a criminal. But he would _never _hurt anyone. He is no criminal. And though his skills are unsurpassed, he is also only human, like anyone else. You cannot expect him to survive forcing his body to such limits."_

And so the King had granted him one comfort - a bed. A small one, with a small mattress and no blankets - "_He could devise some way to strangle himself."_ He had also determined that Link would only be pressed as hard as he was able to be; the instant it was proven that he could not stand, he would be allowed to rest.

It was better than nothing for him, but still clearly destructive. Zelda felt anger burn her soul, and the sphere of light above her palm flashed brightly in response.

She had learned the hard way that Link was trying to starve himself. Managing to get away from Sir Jassom, she crept down to the dungeons to visit the hero, only to see him held down on his back, with some evil-looking device forcing his jaws apart, horribly wide, while a tube was poked down his throat.

She had been on a fishing trip, once. The struggles of Link's body against the tube were frightfully akin to a fish's horrible jerking as a hook was removed from its belly, and the sounds were frightfully similar as well - intermixed with Link's very human wheezing gasps of pain.

She hid behind a barrel as the knights and physicians left his cell, locking it behind them. When the echoes of their footsteps had faded, she hurried closer, able only to cling to the door of the cell as Link convulsed on his bed, coughing violently, trembling, tears dripping down his cheeks; there was blood on his lips. She had called his name as loudly as he dared, but he didn't seem to hear, only lay there, shuddering, eyes half-closed.

Reports overheard from knights in the garrison, sometimes in conversation with Sir Jassom, seemed impossible to her. Despite everything, Link was still managing to fight - and more often than not _win - _against every man sent against him, for six hours straight every day, sometimes longer. When she visited, he seemed painfully thin; a once form-fitting shirt now hung limply from his narrow shoulders, and his trousers had to be fastened with a length of twine, as there were no belts small enough to fit his waist.

_He is nothing short of a miracle. _Often she found it difficult to believe that he could ever doubt himself. And, indeed, the thought had never once occurred to her during his days as her appointed knight.

With a huff she waved her hand, dispelling the magic hovering over her palm. Her father insisted that she practice with her powers every day. She could understand why, but without an evil to dispel or a hero to protect it seemed futile.

There were other things she wanted to do.

Squaring her shoulders, she left the courtyard, ignoring Sir Jassom as he followed closely behind. At first, after he had been assigned to her, she had tried to be as kind as possible, terrified of misjudging someone else the way she'd misjudged Link.

But it hadn't taken her long to realize that Jassom was nothing like Link. He was popular with the other knights, for one, laughing and talking with them easily. And for another… he treated nearly everyone as if they were a speck of dust, or a bug to be crushed beneath his feet. The way he had so cruelly beaten Link…

She no longer saw any harm in pretending the man didn't exist.

Walking quickly, she made her way up to her study - one of few places she could order Jassom not to follow her. A place that had always been her haven.

_So, _she thought, sitting down at her desk with a grateful sigh. _Bringing him a frog didn't do much. _She had hoped that it might cheer him up, at least a little, and it seemed to have worked at first. But she realized, when she saw the tears, that it had been a mistake. _He hasn't seen sunlight or wildlife for _months - _bringing him a little bit of the wilderness that he cannot reach was probably cruel._

_So what can I do, then?_

She chewed her lip, staring at a blank page in her journal, searching her mind.

_Mipha!_

**==]—=** ... **=—[==**

It took a few days for the Zora Princess to arrive, partially because Zelda couldn't think of a plausible excuse to bring her to the castle.

"_Since Mipha's power is similar, at least in appearance, to my own, I thought she might have valuable advice about controlling it," _she had told her father after a day of thinking carefully over possible reasons for a visit - and he believed.

"I must warn you, he is not… not well," Zelda told the Princess as they hurried down to the dungeons. "He has been beaten countless times, and he has been… unable, or unwilling, to eat on his own. Besides that, he has lost faith in himself… although now I am wondering if he ever did believe in himself."

Mipha nodded slowly. "He was very quiet, the last few times he visited the Domain. After he drew the Master Sword."

Zelda blinked slowly. _The Master Sword… is that when all of this started, then?_

They passed a knight in leather armor on his way out, a heavy frown on his face. "Princess," he greeted them. "Er… _Princesses." _Twisting his fingers nervously, he handed her the keys in his hands. "I expect you'll want these."

"Thank you," Zelda said, taking the keys with a tense silence. The knight hurried away, head bowed. _Working a… a _boy _until he collapses from exhaustion… it would certainly take a toll on anyone with a good soul._

Link lay on his bed as usual, his breaths heavy and labored. His skin, grimy from months in darkness and filth, gleamed with sweat. Apparently he had only just finished his training for the day.

"Hello," Mipha smiled warmly, walking calmly into the cell as Zelda held the door open.

Link's eyes flashed open. Vibrant cerulean blue - the only color on his body, the only color in his cell. "_Mipha?" _He swallowed, looking away. "Wh-why are you here?"

She chuckled lightly, taking the keys from Zelda and freeing the young man's wrists. "I've heard that you'd gotten rather banged up, and thought that perhaps I could help."

Link made no move to sit up, though he was free. Zelda noticed, as she approached, that he was trembling slightly. _Not strong enough, perhaps? _"Y'shouldn't waste it on me," Link mumbled, eyelids lowering. "There're others…"

"I know," Mipha smiled, gently taking his left wrist in her hands and allowing a light silver glow to bathe his skin. "But you're my friend, Link; I wanted to see you again."

"I'm not worth it," he protested, twitching in an attempt to straighten. "I... I _need _this pain…" His voice faded away, and his cheeks pinkened with shame.

"Why is that?" the Zora asked calmly, allowing fresh new skin to replace the chafed blisters ringing his wrists.

Link swallowed again. His breath seemed to have calmed, but his body still shook in the aftermath of hours of nonstop fighting. Slowly he shook his head, eyes fluttering closed. "You… you wouldn't understand."

Mipha pulled her hands away from his, revealing whole, new skin. "May I see your back?" she asked politely.

His pale cheeks flushed pink. "... Can't sit up," he muttered, looking up at her again.

"I can help," Zelda volunteered, moving to his side. "I cannot imagine how exhausted you must be."

Something flickered in his gaze. "Should be better," he sighed, voice creaking with weariness. "Sh-should be… stronger…"

Zelda's jaw tightened. Not a single one of her father's knights trained as arduously as he did, and though it was forced upon him, it was still incredible. Sitting beside him, she gently slid her hand beneath his shoulder and lifted him upwards. Once sitting, he slumped against her, tremors taking his body. His breaths quickened again as he tugged his too-large shirt over his head, revealing his torso.

Zelda couldn't help but stare - he was just as skinny as she had expected, but beyond that, every one of his muscles was clearly defined and looked as hard as iron. He was an interesting, and horrifying, combination of emaciation and strength. _So this is what happens after months of minimal food and hours and hours of intense physical labor._

Beyond that, his skin was bruised and scraped. His back, especially, was decorated in a painful-looking array of colors, from inflamed red to pale violet to dark blue and sickly green. She could clearly see his shoulder blades, ribs, and spine beneath his grimy skin, bony and fragile-looking. Everything that was excess in his body had vanished.

_Father, what have you done?_

It took her a moment to realize that Link was studying her anxiously, his brow creased. The instant she met his gaze he looked away, curling his arms around himself, shoulders hunched. A tear carved a delicate path down his hollow cheek.

_He realizes what has happened to him, _Zelda thought. _And he hates the sight of himself._

_Fantastic._

"Y-you should try to eat," she suggested, resting her hand lightly upon his bony shoulder.

Link's neck bulged as he swallowed. "I've… tried," he murmured, his shaking voice barely audible. "Every time… _every time, _I feel… sick. Just the thought of… of eating _anything _makes me feel nauseous."

"It would be better than having them… _force _you, wouldn't it?" she asked, fighting tears at the memory.

Link's gaze snapped to her, eyes wide with horror. "Y-you've _seen…?"_

Zelda hesitated, and Mipha intervened. "Lie down, Link," she said, putting a hand on his shoulder and helping him lie back down, on his stomach this time, across the stiff mattress. Her hands hovered over his bruised back, bathing it in pure light. "I'll be done in a moment."

They lapsed into an uncomfortable silence. Zelda found herself running her fingers through Link's dirty hair, combing out the tangles as best she could. It occurred to her then that he was essentially being treated as a beast of burden. A horse, or a cow, and a mistreated one at that. Something that the kingdom needed but didn't truly care about.

_He needs someone to care._

_I'm doing my best - but I can't help if he won't let me._

As they left his cell, Mipha turned to him one last time. "Know this," she smiled at him. "No matter how difficult the battle might get, no matter what you've done or what others have done to you…" She sucked in a deep breath. "If you - if anyone tries to do you harm, then I will heal you. No matter when, or how bad the wound, I hope you know… that I will always stand by you." With her usual soft smile, she cupped his face in her hand and allowed her healing power to shine forth, seeping directly into his mind. Link gasped, his eyes falling closed, an expression of peace settling over his face. Her smile took on a hint of sadness as she released him, guiding his head down to the mattress and turning away.

"Did you…" Zelda began, hardly daring to hope.

"I wish I could," Mipha answered, clasping her hands together. "But that is not a wound I can heal. But he's asleep now… and no dreams or anything else will trouble him until he wakes."

Zelda glanced back at the unconscious young man, her heart aching. "Thank you…"

**==]—=** ... **=—[==**

Her seventeenth birthday was rapidly approaching, and the pressure was building. She stood on the bridge to her study, gazing down at the guardian research in progress below. Trying to ignore the eyes upon her.

No longer could she go anywhere without being followed by awed looks and hushed whispers. Before unlocking her powers, people had rarely paid her any attention - when they did, it was with doubt and disappointment.

Now… now they wore their hopes on their sleeves. Now they had _faith _in her; they believed in her, believed that she could save them.

It was unbearable.

_What if the power goes away? Then I'll let them all down… I'll _fail _right when it truly means the most._

_If I cannot do this, we will all die. My father, my friends, Link…_

Link.

Was this how he felt? Feeling the eyes, the hopes, of the kingdom, all resting heavily upon his shoulders…

Certainly their paths were similar. Certainly he had already told her about feeling their eyes upon him; it had caused him to shut himself out, stop outwardly expressing his emotions. It had caused him to feel alone, entirely alone, forsaken, hopeless.

_And now… _Now _I can truly understand._

She knew herself. She wasn't perfect - far from it, in fact. She was just as prone to mistakes as everyone else. She lost her temper, and sometimes thought selfishly, and often placed her passion - science - above her duties.

_I am not who they want me to be._

And that knowledge, that solid fact, was agonizing. With her powers unlocked, she knew, she understood, how Link had felt so terrible.

_I have to see him._

Without another moment's hesitation she whirled away from the bridge, back through her room and down towards the lockup - a now-familiar route. The sun was shining cheerfully overhead, and a warm breeze was blowing. But down in the dungeons the only light came from torches, and the air was uncomfortably damp, warm in the way of an oven, not a gentle sun.

Upon reaching Link's cell, she found the door open, and another knight inside. Her heart squeezed with worry - until she saw that Link was on his feet, wooden training sword in hand, his chest bare and gleaming with sweat. Impossibly fast, he exchanged blows with the knight, eyes narrowed in deadly concentration. The chains around his ankles rattled as he dodged blows, the muscles in his chest and arms flexing with every movement. She could clearly see that the other man was struggling to keep up for him; he was getting backed into a corner and breathing heavily, eyes betraying uncertainty, while Link's face was calm.

"Enough!" the knight squeaked out in fear, jabbing his own wooden blade into Link's stomach, knocking him stumbling backwards with a pained grunt. Breathing heavily, the knight jerked his chin up proudly. "Th-that's enough for now."

Zelda gaped at the man. _Coward! _She hurried into the cell, fixing him in a stern glare. "I can take over from here, thank you," she said, holding her hand out to take the keys.

The knight eyed her skeptically, but with respect. "Yes, Princess."

Zelda turned her attention to Link, who was still clutching his stomach with a pained expression on his face, slumped against the wall. "Are you alright?"

He bit his lip, nodding slowly. "I'm… fine. Not the first time this happened."

Her eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"When they say '_enough,' _I have to stop, no matter what. Otherwise I'm punished. But…"

Zelda swallowed thickly. "But when you stop, they… they _don't. _To salvage their pride."

Link ducked his head. "I… I d-deserve it; I wasn't… I'm not good enough."

"Actually…" she began, reaching out and taking his hands in hers, "I think they hurt you because you _are _good enough. They're embarrassed because they cannot defeat you, even in this… this state."

Link looked down at himself. He was not truly emaciated; Rhoam would not allow that. Hence the force-feedings, keeping him just nourished enough to maintain his strength. Nevertheless he was painfully underweight, and it showed in the visibility of his ribs, the narrowness of the waist, and the shadows beneath his eyes and cheekbones.

"Nnngh…" Link moaned, clutching his stomach tighter. "S-sorry, Princess…" Shuddering, he crawled slowly away from her, to a hole in the corner of the cell. Zelda turned away for his sake, wincing at the painful wet retching sounds coming from his direction.

"S-sorry," he muttered again. "That… that happens sometimes…"

She looked back at him as he reached for his shirt, pulling it back over his shoulders. Her heart ached for him as he tried to maintain some semblance of decency, though he was forced to live as little more than a beast.

He looked at her, his eyes gleaming with sadness. "I'm sorry," he murmured yet again, curling his arms around his stomach. "This place is… _disgusting. _I… am disgusting. Wh… why are you here?"

Zelda inhaled deeply, moving to sit beside him on the shabby bed. _Should I proceed? Would it be selfish of me to tell him about _my _problems, when he is going through such a difficult time himself?_

Her heartbeat stuttered for a moment as she realized, yet again, that he had felt the same way, telling her he wasn't worth her help.

With fresh resolve, she began. "I wanted to talk to you about something," she said, reaching out to gently take his hand. "I feel that… that you are the only one who understands. You see, I thought that… that after I awakened my powers, everything would be better. That my father would not turn me away with shame, that I would be allowed to continue my studies, that people would no longer think of me as a disappointment."

She felt tears stinging her eyes, and focused intently on the feel of his hand in hers. "I was wrong. I… I know what you mean, now, about the eyes everywhere… I'm finding myself becoming anxious about everything, about things that haven't even happened yet, wondering if I will be enough, or if I will fail and let everyone else down… you, and the Champions…"

Link was staring at her, his eyes soft and gentle. "I understand," he whispered, lightly giving her hand a squeeze. "I… I _know…"_

She felt her shoulders sag with relief - and sadness. "It was… it was easier to live with failure, for that was what people expected of me. And there was little hope - I did not truly believe it could happen. And that made my life so much easier. Now, however… I have something of importance. I _have _hope, or… well, I have something that gives the people hope. To fail now would be disastrous for all of them… for _everyone."_

Link nodded slowly. "I'm terrified," he admitted, slightly hoarse. A tear dripped down his cheek. "I… I've never believed in myself. That I had… had worth. And - and now p-people depend on me, and I don't - I couldn't imagine why. I… I've already failed so badly that… that they had to do _this… _How… _why _would they trust me with… with what I have to do?"

Zelda blinked rapidly, trying to prevent tears. "They aren't given a choice - for either of us," she murmured, shifting closer to him. Even underfed and filthy and miserable as he was, she felt comforted by his presence. He had saved her from the Yiga assassin, despite his wound, despite everything that had been going on in his mind. "We were chosen by the Goddesses - they have no choice." She swallowed with difficulty, her shoulders aching with the strain, with the weight of the world.

_But I'm not alone._

She turned to study Link's face as he stared at his lap. _We bear this burden together._

He had been the key to her powers. She had realized the strain he had been feeling, had grown to care for him deeply and yearned to help in some way. Seeing him try so hard and yet continue to be crushed beneath the weight of the world…

But she hadn't had any idea of what, exactly, she had gotten herself into.

"What was it like when you drew the Master Sword?" she asked, letting her other hand curl around his.

Link glanced at her briefly. "I… w-well…" He sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly, seeming to wilt a little as the air left his body. He hesitated a moment longer, fidgeting, eyes darting around as if searching for someplace to hide. "I… it was after my father died, so I had been… I'd been assigned as Sir Jassom's squire. He… he taught me that as a knight, I could not strive for anything less than perfection, as someone's life might depend on it somehow. I didn't measure up - I've never felt that I've measured up; when my father was alive I… well, I wanted to be just like him, so I did my best. But it was never enough. He didn't think so; he told me that I was enough, that I was doing well, but I saw him and his skill and I didn't believe him.

"When Jassom took me on, he continued that notion, of being… of achieving _perfection._ I thought it would be a good thing at first, thought that maybe I could finally learn to be good enough, but instead…" His shoulders slumped. "I realized that I wasn't good enough for perfection, and never could be good enough."

Zelda scowled. She felt certain that it was less about Link being good enough and more of Jassom being prideful about his own skills. "Did he beat you?"

Link looked at her with wide eyes, his lips parted in shock. "W-well… yes. It's a knight's responsibility to punish his squire the way he sees fit. And I… I was never doing good enough, so I… I deserved it. It was… it was _right." _He nodded slowly, turning his gaze away from her, brow furrowed in remembrance. "And that was why… when the Master Sword…" He inhaled again, blinking several times. "Everyone was required to try, and to… to not give up until the Great Deku Tree told them to stop. No one could do it - not a single one of the knights. So then King Rhoam had the squires try, and…"

His voice wavered. "I did it. And… the instant it was free, I looked up and Sir Jassom was s-staring at me and I… I knew I'd made a mistake. I w-wasn't supposed to be the Chosen Hero. _He _was. He told the King - said that because I was _his _squire, he'd been able to loosen it for me, so that I w-was able to draw it. He said that it sh-should've been him b-but King Rhoam w-wouldn't l-l-let him try again s-so he… when we returned to the castle he…" Link gulped audibly and tugged at his shirt, pulling it once more away from his slender frame, and pointed at his right shoulder. Whereas his left arm was covered in scars old and new, his right had only a few, on his upper arm, deliberate diagonal scratches. "It w-was his right."

Zelda reached out and put her hand over the scars, hiding them from view. "Link, if that _man _had drawn the Master Sword, I would never have unlocked my powers. He's a _monster!_"

"N-no - it was his right -"

"It is not his right to speak to people as if they are lesser beings," she growled. "It is not his right to make judgements about others. Link, he treats _everyone _horribly. I cannot stand him as my Appointed Knight. You…" Her voice softened and she reached out gently to cup his face. "You are a far better man than he could ever claim to be."

Link shook his head, avoiding her gaze as a tear fell from his eyes. "I'm n-not good enough…"

"No one is - not when _perfection _is their goal," Zelda murmured, realizing as she spoke that it was something she needed to hear. "We cannot be perfect, Link. Not in this life. But… but we can _try perfectly._ And you… you certainly do that." Her heart ached as memories crowded her mind - Link on the ground, wooden blade beating down on him as he cried out, over and over again… _I'm trying! I'm trying!_ "You don't have to be perfect," she told him, looking deep into his eyes. "You… we… we just have to _try, _and do the best that we can."

Link swallowed again, blinking rapidly, his breaths heavy. Slowly his lips twitched upwards in what might have been a smile. "I… think I can do that…" His words were barely audible.

Zelda's heart lifted. "And… for what it's worth, Link, you're good enough for me."

This time he did smile, his eyes alight with hope.


	4. Chapter 4

**WHEN LIGHTNING STRIKES**

**==]—=** ... **=—[==**

**There will be at least one more part after this. The chapter was getting pretty long, so I decided to break it up. Thanks for reading!**

**==]—=** ... **=—[==**

"_Link… this burden is so heavy… how do I face it?"_

"_Just… keep smiling, Princess." Her smiles felt like the warmth of the sun, even trapped in a murky hole as he was._

"_I will if you will." Her lips brushed his brow, gentle and soft, clearing his mind of all rational thought for a strange, euphoric moment. _

_And he smiled, for the first time in months, or perhaps years…._

**==]—=** ... **=—[==**

A sudden dull rumble, a growl of thunder, the ground trembling violently. Link jerked awake, senses on high alert. His heart pounded and he lurched to his feet, remembering with a surge of gratitude that Zelda - the _Princess - _had refused to lock his wrists before leaving. Even so - _What in Hylia's name is _going on?

The stones beneath his feet were shaking so hard that he could barely stay standing. The walls were shuddering, too; dust rained down from the ceiling and all of a sudden a horrible fear gripped his limbs. _An earthquake._

_And I'm trapped here._

Stones began to fall from the ceiling, and his heart pounded faster. "Help!" he shouted, dashing to the cell door before the chains around his ankle snapped taut and he fell, smashing his head against the iron bars of the door and crumpling to the shivering ground, pain smearing across his vision. With a groan he pushed himself up, turning over and tugging at the chains around his ankles as hard as he could to no avail as dust and small fragments of rock dropped down all around him.

"_Help!" _he screamed again, giving up on the chains and trying to reach for the door. His fingertips were mere inches away. "Hey! I'm in here! _Please!"_

The air was rent with a dull roar, perhaps animalistic, or perhaps just caused by the violent shuddering of the ground. Link swallowed with difficulty, staring at the heavy ceiling above his head with fear. A disturbing crack - his stomach lurched, and he scuttled back to his bed and ducked beneath it, lying down on his back and gazing upwards at the rugged wooden plank, his chest heaving with panicked breath. "Help!" he screamed again, although the glimmer of hope with in his soul was swiftly fading.

A sudden tremendous crack, like a powerful thunderclap. There was time for a single petrified gasp and he closed his eyes as everything folded inwards -

Darkness.

**==]—=** ... **=—[==**

He awakened with a start, his heart hammering furiously, so hard that he felt nauseous.

_I'm not dead…_ How was it possible?

He lay among rubble and splintered wood. The entire back wall of his cell had caved in; he could see outside, and at first his soul leaped with joy at the sight of sunlight and green fields in the distance.

Yet something was horribly off.

He could see a massive pillar, a gargantuan rectangular prism stretching upwards at an angle towards the castle. It seemed to be of Sheikah handicraft, decorated with many of the same embellishments he had seen upon shrines and guardians while travelling with the Princess.

But instead of pure blue, or orange, the embellishments burned a malicious magenta. _Evil._

Wincing slightly, he dragged himself out from beneath the ruins of his bed. The mattress, crude though it was, had probably saved his life, offering a layer of cushioning between him and the collapsing ceiling. Most of the lockup, from what he could see, had remained intact, though chunks of rock littered the ground and many flagstones had split. His cell had taken the worst of the damage, losing an entire wall -

His heart learched, and he bent down to his ankles, pulling the chains that bound him free from the wreckage.

The wall was gone, as were the attachments securing his chains in place. _Which means… I'm _free.

His spirits lifted. _I can get out. I don't even need the door; I can just climb out through the hole in the wall! I don't ever have to see this place again!_

A faint glow caught his attention, and he turned to see the Master Sword lying in its place. The blade itself shone a bright, pure blue, something he had never seen from it before. The excitement in his soul began to fade, steadily replaced by a nauseating heaviness - a sense of foreboding. _The earthquake. The pillar. And now the Master Sword displaying some new power._

_Is it here? The Calamity?_

Instantly he felt ashamed for wanting to run. Ganon or not, what had happened to Zel - the Princess?_Is she alright? Is she safe? How did the rest of the castle fare?_

_I have to go to her._

No longer was it his duty to protect her. But he didn't care - if anything had happened to her, if she was hurt or frightened or _anything, _he would hold himself accountable.

She was… his friend. Perhaps even more than that. She had been a light reaching out to him in the dark, soothing his aching body, his aching soul, with gentle words and a gentle touch. He had sworn to die for her when first assigned to be her protector, but over the past months of loneliness and pain he had realized that not only was she worth dying for, she was worth _living _for.

_To protect her, I'll need a weapon. And to get a weapon - _my _weapon - I'll need to get through the door._

Clanking armored footsteps sounded, distantly approaching, in his ears, as if summoned by his thoughts. _Fantastic!_

If it wasn't Ganon, someone would still have to unlock the door in order to move him to an intact cell. He could grab the Master Sword and run.

_Hopefully._

The air whooshed from his lungs and cold waves froze his body as the knight came into view, a loaded crossbow in one hand, broadsword in the other. "Jassom!" he croaked out, taking an instinctive step away from the door.

His former mentor sneered as he approached, standing just beside the Master Sword. There was blood on his face.

"The time has come," Jassom scowled, his eyes hard. "Calamity Ganon has returned."

Link's heart nearly stopped. "And… the Princess?" he asked, barely managing the breath to speak.

"She is safe," Jassom answered slowly. "We were at the Lanayru Promenade when the Calamity appeared. She has sent the Champions to their Divine Beasts; Daruk and Mipha are already in place."

Link inhaled shakily. "Then… the earthquake…"

"It occurred the moment Ganon reappeared and was felt throughout the kingdom," Jassom tapped a finger against his leg impatiently. "You must have been highly… _fortunate. _Much of the rest of the castle is in shambles; the Princess and I have been finding corpses everywhere. Which is how we learned of the King's passing." His lip curled in disgust. "After seeing his body, her next thought was for you, and she insisted upon finding you herself. Naturally, I could not let her, as the state of the castle has become… exceedingly treacherous."

Link's heart had begun to pound. _She's safe. She's alive._

And then another thought - _I've been unconscious for at least a day if she travelled here from Lanayru and only just arrived. _A sobering thought; he reached a tentative hand to the back of his head and winced, feeling a swollen lump near the top of his skull. _Not good._ Fear struck his heart; Jassom had said that the castle was no longer safe; if there was a second earthquake - _Where is she? Can she get out? _"You just left her alone?" he demanded angrily. "What if - what if something happens -"

"I am not _you,"_ Jassom sneered. "I am not a careless youth with no regard for his own safety, let alone the safety of others."

Link flinched.

"I left her in the first gatehouse with what remains of my men," the knight continued, leaning comfortably back against the wall. "She expects that when you and I return, you will lead them into battle against Ganon as she strives to seal him away and the Divine Beasts and guardians attack." He inhaled deeply, his gaze shifting to the gleaming Master Sword lying on the ground. "Unfortunately, her plan will encounter a complication. When I found you, you see, you had been killed by the earthquake. This left me no choice but to pick up the sacred blade _myself_ and take your place as the _Hero of Hyrule."_

Link's pulse raced as the truth dawned on him. "You… you're going to kill me."

Jassom's features twisted into a grotesque mask of rage. "You were never meant to wield that blade!" he hissed. "_I _was the better warrior. _I _was the stronger man! It _should have _been me - it _would _have been me if you were never born, I am sure of it!" He raised his crossbow in his other hand. "I will unlock the door, boy. If you try to escape through that hole in the wall, this bolt will pierce your heart. Or your neck, or your skull… it doesn't matter which. If you try to fight back, I will end your life with my blade."

"Th-the King told me that the Master Sword never has a second choice," Link protested quietly, trying to force the knight's words out of is head, no matter how much he agreed with them. _They would not have worked so hard to keep me alive if another could be chosen._

Jassom nodded slowly. "I am aware of that, fool boy. But I came prepared with a plan." Smirking, he jabbed his sword in the direction of the sacred blade. "They say that there is a spirit inside of the sword. I want you to tell it to accept me as its new master. You will lose blood every time you refuse, so if you want a quick death, I would recommend getting it right the first time."

Link's heart throbbed. _Would that… would it work?_ "Y-you'll keep the Princess safe?" he whispered, trembling.

Jassom laughed, shaking his head. "You're giving in this easily? I suppose you're more of a coward than I realized. _Of course _I'll protect the Princess - what have I been doing for the past _seven months?"_

Link's hands trembled as he took a halting step forward. _He's… he's right. She's safe - that's what matters._ He swallowed thickly, feeling fear curl around his heart and weigh down his soul with the force of several large boulders. _Is… is this it, then?_

He hated himself. _I'm a failure, and a coward, and weak. I deserve pain… I wanted death…_

His heart ached. _Do I want death _now? The Princess was worth living for; he knew that much. She made him feel things he didn't deserve - love, safety, friendship, comfort… but in the moment, in her presence, basking in the warmth of her smile, he couldn't bring himself to believe that he _truly _didn't deserve such things. She _thinks I'm worth it, and she is… she's intelligent and kind and… and maybe she's right?_

He wanted to live, for _her._ And the thought of never again riding through sunny fields, smelling the wildflowers and listening to birdsong and humming insects… he didn't want that. _I love this land - am I strong enough to leave it behind forever?_

He turned his gaze to the Master Sword, sharp pain striking his heart - as if it was being torn apart. _But if I fight… and fail… it will all be destroyed._

_Better to give us the best possible chance of winning._

Jassom was staring at him solemnly. "It's the right thing to do," he said, his voice uncharacteristically free from malice. "I'm opening the door now - remember, if you try to resist…" He left the sentence hanging, and Link shuddered.

The battered cell door swung open with a painful creak. His heart thumping insistently in his chest, in his throat, in his wrist, alive and afraid, he stepped out into the corridor for the first time in months. Feeling Jassom's burning glare at his back, he bent down and placed his hand around the hilt of the Master sword and closed his eyes.

'_I am pleased that you are not harmed, Master Link.'_

He swallowed thickly. _Fi… I've said this before, and… I mean it. I'm… not good enough. I shouldn't have been chosen._

'_I believe that I, too, have responded in this way before: the Goddesses do not make mistakes. You have the Spirit of the Hero. You have borne the burden in your mind for many years without giving up. Besides possessing the finest skills in swordsmanship, you are devoted to this land, and to its people. The Goddesses do not make mistakes - you were meant for this.'_

Link grit his teeth, feeling sick. _This is proof that you're wrong, alright? I _do _give up. I'm… I'm giving up right now. You need to let Sir Jassom be your master now._

'_To do so would be impossible. The Master Sword only ever has one wielder at a time. Even should you die, I could not choose another. I can only ever bind myself to the heart of a hero, as pure as fresh parchment. Sir Jassom has a heart of greed and power. He would die upon attempting to claim me.'_

Link sucked in a sharp breath through his nose. _You have to let him. I can't do this._

'_You can. I will not suffer his hand.'_

_You _must!

The cold brush of steel against the back of his neck. Link stiffened.

"Well?" Jassom demanded. "I've given you long enough."

His pulse quickened. "Just - just kill me now," he pleaded, shoulders sagging.

"Hah!" the knight barked out, pressing his sword more firmly against Link's skin. "No; I will kill you only _after_ I hold the Master Sword. If I didn't, and you're just tricking me, I would have no way to get it to take me. So tell me, boy, is it mine?"

He inhaled shakily. "Sh-she refuses to let you wield it."

A sudden hiss of steel rushing through the air and a sudden streak of pain across his shoulder blades. Link gasped, his heart rocketing to new speeds, hot blood dripping down his back.

"Try again," Jassom growled. "I warned you - any resistance and I will not hesitate to maim you. Next time I'll cut off your hand."

Link inhaled as deeply as he could, trying to calm himself. _Fi, please…_

'_I am not allowed a choice in this matter, Master Link. I suggest that you take up your weapon and dispose of this foe before making your way to the Princess. I am detecting Ganon's aura within the castle.'_

_Every moment I sit here is another moment the Princess is in danger, _he realized. His heart hammered. _I could fight. I've beaten Jassom before…_

_But now I'm half-starved and weak._

'_You are not weak, Master Link. You have lost an unhealthy percentage of your body mass, but your strength has not declined.'_

Link grimaced. He hadn't meant for her to hear that bit. "Sir Jassom, she… she wants me to fight you. I - I don't know what to do; she isn't listening to me -"

"Right then," Jassom grumbled, striding forward and slamming his fist into the fresh wound on Link's back. He cried out in pain, falling forward; Jassom lunged forward, slamming his knee against the small of his back and pinning him face down to the ground. With a massive hand he snatched Link's hand and forcefully stretched his arm out to the side, letting the edge of his blade rest against his wrist.

"_Oh, Goddesses," _Link whimpered, barely aware he was speaking. Jassom raised his blade, preparing to swing -

"_No!"_

Link's heart lurched.

Jassom got to his feet, landing a solid kick to Link's side and sending him into a wheezing coughing fit. "I had hoped you would stay put, Princess," he sneered. "This isn't something I wanted you to see."

Link rolled onto his side, arms curled around his stomach, and saw Zelda standing in the corridor, her face pale with shock. "Evidently it was fortunate that I escaped," she gaped at him. "You - you were about to -"

"Yes, I was," Jassom snapped. "We would have a better chance of winning if _I_ were wielding the Master Sword."

"If you believe that, then you understand nothing!" Zelda shot back, anger burning her cheeks. "Without Link, I would not have discovered my powers. Without him, we would all die! He is our only chance! Step away from him and return to the rest of your men this instant - that is an order!"

Jassom took a step towards her. "My duty is to protect you," he seethed through clenched teeth. "I cannot very well do that if _he _is at your side. He is utterly mad! You know what he did to himself - what do you think he would do to _you, _or the rest of the kingdom, if given the chance? It's only a matter of time before he snaps completely."

Gripping his sword, hissing at the pain in his back, Link pushed himself to his feet, hurt stinging his heart. _I'm not a lunatic!_

Jassom whirled back around to face Link, raising his blade. "Hand over that sword. _Now."_

Link gulped, glancing from the knight to Zelda and back again. "It's… not my decision to let you wield it or not," he said quietly. "If you touch it, you will die."

Jassom's eyes narrowed. "I don't believe you. The sword budged when I pulled at it - it was almost free! It was _meant _to be mine! So give it to me _this instant, _or…" A wicked gleam entered his eyes. "The Princess doesn't need all of her fingers in order to seal Ganon, does she?" Like a striking snake his hand flashed out, dropping his crossbow, and snatched Zelda's wrist before she could run.

"Traitor!" she hissed, struggling furiously, yanking at her hand. Frustration glimmering in his eyes Jassom shoved her against the wall, teeth bared in a snarl.

"Leave her alone," Link growled, something feral stirring within him as he took a step forward, grip tightening around the hilt of the Master Sword.

Jassom looked over his shoulder at him, eyebrow raised mockingly. "Don't you order me around, boy. And I promise you, she will be perfectly safe as long as you behave. So I'll ask you once more - _tell that blasted blade to accept me, _or the Princess starts losing fingers."

Link's heart hammered. "I've told you what will happen," he warned, one last time.

It wasn't that he was particularly keen on keeping the Master Sword, or even his life.

It was fear - of what Jassom would do when he realized he was wrong. It was fear, in contrast, that it was _Jassom _who was right; it was fear that the knight would lift the Master Sword and prove to everyone, and to the Princess, that he, Link, was a complete failure.

And it was the guilt, the nauseating sickness spreading through his gut at the thought of causing the death of someone he knew, no matter how cruel that person was. It would be so much worse than killing any Yiga or monster.

Slowly, keeping a watchful eye on Jassom and the Princess, he lowered the Master Sword to the ground and stood, hands slightly raised defensively. "It's… your choice."

Jassom looked at him, hard, for several seconds. Then he chuckled slightly. "I think you're lying about _everything,"_ he muttered. "Not one of the men who wasn't me or you and tried to draw the Sword was killed. Why would this be different?" Rage carved deep lines in his face, accented by shadow. "Stupid boy. I understand now. This was the only thing you thought gave you worth, wasn't it? That's why you didn't want to let it go."

"You're wrong," Link said softly, before he even realized what he was doing. "That _thing _never… never did any of that. _She _did."

"Who?" Jassom leered, stepping closer.

Link swallowed tightly, glancing at the Princess and feeling warmth burn his cheeks. Especially when she smiled anxiously at him, tears glistening in the emerald depths of her eyes. _You've said too much already, _he scolded himself.

Jassom chuckled again, but his voice was tense with an undercurrent of nervousness. "You're bluffing again, aren't you. Stalling. It won't work." He knelt before the Master Sword, switching his blade to his left hand and reaching downwards. His fingers trembled - with fear? All at once his gaze snapped upwards. "Get down here and hold the sword!" he demanded. "Might be able to confuse it… _Do it, _boy!"

Link jumped, looking again towards Zelda. She looked worried; she had taken a step forward, one hand outstretched as if to intervene somehow. With a deep breath, Link knelt down, taking the pommel of the Master Sword in his hand.

Jassom bit his lip hard, glaring down at the blade. "_I _am your wielder now," he growled, sliding his fingers around the hilt. Link's heart hammered wildly in his throat as he waited - a second, then another, and another… and nothing happened. Jassom smirked, gripping his wrist and yanking his hand away from the Master Sword. "Well, well… you _were _lying." His grin only widened as he got to his feet, holding the sacred blade in one hand, raising it skyward. "Finally… all is set to right."

Link looked away, clasping his shaking hands together and bowing his head. Unexpected tears stung his eyes, and he made no effort to will them away, feeling numb and cold. _They… changed their mind. The Goddesses changed their mind._

_I've done it again - I failed Zelda._

"Alright, boy," Jassom chuckled, sounding much more confident. "You've officially outgrown your use to me. Better not defile _this _blade with your blood."

"_No!" _Zelda shrieked; he heard her footsteps.

And an earsplitting snap rent the stale dungeon air and an invisible force hurled Jassom through the air; he screamed, a howl of unspeakable agony, before slamming into a cell door and falling limply to the ground.

He did not move again, not even to breathe, and the Master Sword clattered to the ground.

"_Link,"_ Zelda gasped breathlessly, rushing towards him and throwing her arms around him, holding him close as she shuddered from fear. Link tensed for a moment before slowly curling his own arms around her, his heart accelerating almost painfully. "Link, I…"

"I'm glad you're safe," he murmured.

She laughed tearily, sounding slightly choked. "I - y-you were almost _killed, _and that's all you were worried about?"

He gulped nervously, raising his head. _It's what matters most to me._

But before he could say it, she looked up at him, eyes glistening with sudden agony. "L-Link, how… how did it come to this?" she whispered, pulling away from him. "I… I saw, f-from the gatehouse, two of the Divine Beasts… they _changed._ They were… they were corrupted, and th-they moved away from their posts… I believe that… that Daruk and Mipha are…" She blinked rapidly, features twisting in a miserable grimace as she looked away. "U-Urbosa and Revali c-couldn't have r-r-reached theirs yet, but… but when they do… _I'm afraid of what will happen…"_

Link's heart thumped with a different ferocity than before. An icy trickle dripped down his spine.

"That's why I came," Zelda wept softly, curling her hands into fists. "I thought that - that s-someone could have gone after them, provide reinforcements, if Jassom gave the command - they would not listen to me… And then - then when I got away, the guardians… Link, th-they've all turned against us! I thought - I thought I was going t-to die; the other guards - th-they came after me, they saved my life, but they… _they're all dead now…"_

She let go of him entirely, curling her arms tightly around herself. "Everything - everything we've done up until now… it was all for _nothing. _We've lost everything - the Divine Beasts, the guardians, the army, my father most of all…"

Link swallowed tightly. Summoning his courage, forcing his doubts out of his mind, he put his tremoring, nervous arms around her. "We haven't lost _everything," _he murmured, leaning down to her ear. "W-we still have _you. _And - and I will fight beside you as - as long as necessary." _Until I die._

She looked up at him desperately, her face inches from his. "H-how can we still win this?"

He shifted nervously. _Th-there _is _still hope, right? Even though… even though she's… even though she doesn't think so?_

_Maybe… it's my turn to be _her _light…?_

"The heroes of old didn't have any technology on their side," he told her, gently brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes. "They just had each other. S-so that must be all we need to defeat Ganon."

She blinked slowly, her eyes widening before hardening into determination. "Alright," she murmured, getting to her feet and pulling him with her. "Ganon is - is in the Inner Sanctum. Are you ready now?"

Link inhaled deeply. "As long as you are," he told her honestly, bending to retrieve the Master Sword and pausing at the sight of Sir Jassom's corpse. Shuddering, he took Zelda's outstretched hand and together they left the lockup, emerging into smoky afternoon light.

"_Wait!" _Zelda hissed, pulling him back inside.

Link's heart raced. A guardian stalker paced restlessly just outside the outer entrance to the dungeon, its body alight with glowing magenta designs. He looked at Zelda. "That thing is designed to kill with a single hit," he whispered. "Without a shield…"

Zelda gulped. "Th-through the castle, then?"

Link nodded grimly, turning to the right. The narrow, torchlit passageway stretched on into the distance, small, slitted windows high up on the walls, peering into the cells on the other side. He shuddered. "I… I can't believe I'm out," he murmured, hesitating in the hall.

Zelda had not released his arm. "I wish it wasn't because of this," she sighed. "I… I wish that it would have been because I finally convinced my father to let you go, or… something else. Then… we would have celebrated… with the Champions, with…"

Her voice wobbled, and Link instinctively pulled her close, trying to offer whatever comfort he could. _You're not alone. I will never leave your side._ It was one of the things he knew about himself - he could not bring himself to abandon her. Not ever. "I - I'll celebrate with you," he said hesitantly, struggling to keep his voice steady over the uncertain throbbing of his heart. "After - after this is over. Which is - which will be soon."

"I hope so," Zelda murmured, her voice slightly muffled by his shirt. He could feel her tears, and sadness ached in his heart. _I wish I could protect you from that._

They continued through the smoky darkness. At the end of the hall, a wall had caved in, creating a gaping hole to the passageway on the other side. "This way," Link said, trying to sound confident for her sake. Straight through the hole, then beneath an arched doorway, and the sound of rushing water met his ears. One of the many waterfalls spilling down the sides of the castle to the moat below, and the only one inside of a building, tumbled over a massive wall. The humidity of the room made it a less-than ideal place for storage; as such, it was more a place for holding private trials than anything else, which made the proximity of the lockup highly convenient.

Link stopped at the wall. Two sets of ladders led upwards, and at the very top of the room, far past the ladders, was a fenced-off platform leading to other areas in the castle. Every other way out of the room was sealed off. "Alright," he murmured, hurrying to the first ladder and gently guiding Zelda into place. "I'm right behind you. The wood's slippery - please be careful."

Zelda nodded, stepping steadily upward. Link kept close behind her, ready to catch her if she showed any sign of falling. They reached the first platform without incident and headed up the second, step by step, one hand over the other. At the top, there was only a narrow ledge and a small office, with part of one wall crumbled.

Zelda gasped, clapping a hand over her mouth and turning away. Link swallowed tightly; the limp, battered arm of the clerk who had owned the office emerged from beneath the pile of rubble. _Killed in the earthquake._

Gently he turned Zelda away from the sight. "It'll be a bit of a climb - I… I think you'll have to hold on."

Her cheeks flushed red. "Oh - alright; I can do that. Will you be alright?"

He forced a smile. Something he had grown unaccustomed to. "I think so." Bending down, holding his arms out to the sides, he waited for her to climb onto his back. "Try not to hold onto my neck if you can." Slowly he straightened, taking a cautious step forward along the edge. He had never been afraid of heights, but now, looking down, knowing that if he fell Zelda would die, too…

Swallowing tightly, he faced the wall. It was not smooth, which would help him find handholds, but at the same time… the stones and wood were slightly damp, and it was a perfectly vertical ascent. He hadn't done anything of the sort in so long…

_No. I have to do this. I _will _succeed - for her!_

He began the climb, grateful that his feet were bare, allowing him to get a better grip. Up and over wooden framework, up smooth stones that he was only able to hold because of how many there were, and the small spaces between them. Zelda clung tightly to his shoulders, her cheek pressed against his. Sweat trickled down his brow and beneath his arms; it was certainly one of the more difficult climbs he had ever attempted. _Can I do this?_

_I must._

The higher he went, the less damp the stones were, but his fingers were aching, unaccustomed to this kind of exertion. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself higher and higher, until at last he was on the same level as the platform; carefully he sidled around the corner and pulled himself upward, reaching for the bannister and carefully climbing up and over, breathing a sigh of relief as his feet landed on level wooden planks.

"Thank you," Zelda murmured, sliding down from his shoulder - not that he was particularly tall, but it was still an inch or two to the ground.

There were two ways to go - outside, through an open archway, or on through the castle, into an elegant hall with a glorious vaulted ceiling. "Which way?" Link asked.

Zelda's arms curled around his once again. "G-guardians can get through that door," she whispered with a shudder. "Link, I… _they're everywhere._ All over the palace. Including ones I've never seen before - they _fly;_ they - they k-killed the… the…"

She was breathing heavily, her eyes glistening with tears. Link swallowed tightly, bringing her into another gentle hug. _This is happening more and more often…_

_Don't get used to it. It's only because everyone's been killed. That's it._

He inhaled deeply, tears stinging his eyes. He hadn't ever been particularly close to anyone at the castle, but the thought of their deaths… the clerk, all of the other knights - people he had grown up with, had trained with, had taught - Jassom, the King, and goodness only knew how many servants…

_All of them gone._

_And more will join them if we fail._

He gulped. He did not doubt Zelda's ability - only his own.

When she said she was ready to move on, they entered the hall, taking a right away from a caved-in corridor (and more bodies). Midway down the hall was another exit - a spiral staircase leading steadily upwards, opposite yet another collapsed passageway.

"Onwards?" Zelda asked tentatively, inching away from the stairway. "Through the castle?"

He looked at her, biting his lip. "Th-the fastest way to the Sanctum will be outside - I don't remember any other way there going through the castle itself." He blinked uncertainly. "I-is there? A… a way, I mean…"

Zelda turned her gaze down the hall, quiet for several moments. A low rumbling growled through the air, and the ground trembled. Link tensed.

"The beast is restless," Zelda murmured. She turned to him, her gaze determined. "We… we'll go outside."

Link nodded shortly, gently taking her hand and guiding her towards the stairs as the rumbling intensified, shaking dust from the ceiling as the world shuddered beneath their feet. Grimacing, he stumbled to the side, sliding into the wall; furtively he looked at the ceiling, his heart jumping in his chest as he saw cracks in the ceiling, cracks that bulged like a living creature -

_We need to get out of here _now!

Tightening his grip on Zelda's hand he all but dragged her up the stairs as fast as he could, catching her when she tripped on the vibrating steps, shielding her as much as he could from falling chunks of the ceiling. Even the central pillar around the stairs were crumbling, bits of it cracking and breaking away. "Almost there," he muttered, guiding Zelda just slightly ahead of him as they dashed upwards. At last a gleam of dusty sunlight; with a gasp of relief he followed her out into the open.

And almost wished he hadn't.

A massive creature, a cloud of dark magenta light with two evil glowing eyes and tusks, swirled high above them, sending jagged bolts of lightning striking down on the castle, destroying everything in its path. Pools of sludge the same color oozed over the castle ground. Green grass was gone, replaced by black, scorched earth. Trees, too, had been burned to mere skeletons. Smoke hung heavy in the air.

And… the guardians. Crawling all over, climbing over walls, pulsing blue eyes always searching within swivelling domed heads.

It was apocalyptic.

"Link…"

He turned at Zelda's desolate voice and at first thought she was talking about Castle Town. Smoke billowed up from the city, turning his insides cold; several buildings still burned, and he could see even from a distance the guardians swarming all over the place. It was completely destroyed.

But he followed the direction of her shaking finger and saw Divine Beast Vah Medoh glowing a cruel pink, flying aimlessly in circles around the massive eyrie. And to the south - Divine Beast Naboris was turning away, magenta replacing the blue.

"They're gone," Zelda whispered, seeming to wilt before his eyes. "All of them… they're _all dead…"_

Link didn't hesitate this time to put his arms around her. It was difficult to comprehend - difficult for him to truly understand what had happened. He felt numb, empty, cold. A few tears escaped his eyes and he blinked rapidly, willing himself not to give up, not yet, not while the Princess was so shaken.

And then a mechanical skittering, and a high-pitched beeping from behind. Link whirled around, his heart skipping a beat as he saw a red target glowing on his chest and saw a guardian bearing down on him. Horror seized his limbs.

"_Run!"_


	5. Chapter 5

**WHEN LIGHTNING STRIKES**

**==]—=** ... **=—[==**

**Sorry about the long wait! I blame college. Note to self: never take nine classes at once again! I hope you all enjoy the action in this chapter; there'll definitely be more of that in the next chapter as well. This story is officially T for violence, too; I hadn't quite planned for that in the beginning, but... oh well. I hope it's worth it! Thank you all for your support and patience!**

**==]—=** ... **=—[==**

Zelda froze at Link's shout, petrified by the sight of the machine looming over them, red beam forming a target on his chest. He snatched her hand and she snapped back to reality as he pulled her forward, away from the thing, yanking her behind a pillar as it fired.

"W-we can't outrun it," she told him, trembling from fear as memories coursed through her -

"_Run, Princess! We'll take care of it!"_

_Feet pounding hard on cobblestones. Her breath rasping in her ears. Soldiers running alongside her. Pushing her out of the way, one by one, as the guardians chased after them._

Link was calling her name. She stared at him, blinking rapidly, hearing the guardian's beeps rapidly speeding up. _It's aiming at the pillar. One hit will destroy it._

"Do you trust me?" Link demanded, sliding the Master Sword down the back of his shirt and hooking the crossguard over the neckline before gripping her shoulders. Zelda nodded, her heart aching.

Without warning he pulled her close to his chest and jumped backwards, falling with his back facing down. Zelda shrieked, closing her eyes, feeling wind tugging at her body until the they plunged into cold water. Terrified, she thrashed about, feeling a powerful current tugging her forward and all of a sudden she could feel herself falling again; she tried to scream but only water filled her lungs and she panicked further, the world a blur of white and gray and distant magenta. A massive splash and water closed over her head again - her lungs were beginning to ache and she struggled against Link's arms, fear coursing through her - _have to get air, now!_

And once more - falling, tumbling downwards with buckets and buckets of cold water, down, down, wind rushing past her. Silence again, the unmistakable sound of unmistakable. Link finally released his hold on her, grasping only her hand as he pulled her in some direction she could not pinpoint. Air struck her face and she sucked in a desperate gasp that spurred a violent coughing fit; she clung to Link's chest as he swam, her limbs shaking with fear and exhaustion as she spat water from her lungs. Shuddering, heaving for breath, she blinked water from her eyes and forced her legs to kick out as Link struck out towards a small cliff.

"Hold on," he said breathlessly, reaching out and taking hold of the cliff face. Zelda tightened her grip around his shoulders, despising her uselessness as the hero pulled her up to the top with him. The instant he dragged them over the edge she rolled away from him, shuddering, staring at the smoke-streaked sky. Link flopped onto his back, breathing heavily. Then, wincing, he pushed himself to his feet.

Zelda shuddered, staring up at the waterfall they'd just descended. She could no longer see the guardian that had attacked them; a sudden overwhelming sense of despair froze in her heart at the thought of trying to work their way all the way back up through the castle to get to the Calamity.

"If we go along the wall we'll be able to get back to the lockup and… start again, I suppose," Link murmured, studying the castle with intense determination. "Maybe… maybe if we timed it right, we could sneak past that guardian."

Zelda winced, pulling her knees to her chest. "Link… I - there's something I need to tell you," she began tentatively, forcing her gaze away from him. _No need to see his disappointment._ "When I was trying to get to you, I… I tried to use my powers to save the other guards. It… it didn't work. There was nothing - no powers, no light, just… just nothing. And now they're all dead."

Link sat back down, kneeling beside her. "Maybe it's… only supposed to work on the Calamity?"

"But I used it on you - sort of," she reminded him, thinking back to that day a few months prior. "And I've been able to call upon it before, in the courtyard, just… practicing. Yet when it mattered just now, today, it wasn't there. I… I couldn't do it." There was pressure building behind her eyes, tears - _No, I cannot cry, not now! _"I was a failure my entire life," she whispered. "I learned to live with that. To accept it, and just… try my best. Then I unlocked those powers and suddenly people… people depended on me. Put their trust in me. There were expectations, beliefs, that hadn't been there before. And now… now I can't find the magic again, and if I don't… _I'll doom us all…"_

She nearly jumped when she felt a gentle touch on her shoulder. "I understand," Link murmured, his voice aching with the pain in her heart. "I've… I've felt exactly the same, Z… Zelda." Her heart jumped as he spoke her name. _Has he ever done that before?_ "But… we just have to keep trying, right?" he continued. "I know… I know I haven't always - I mean, I-I've lost hope many times, a-and I've tried to give up, but… but we can't. We have to - we need to keep going. Keep trying."

Zelda finally mustered the courage to meet his gaze, his blue eyes soft and vulnerable. Slowly she blinked, remembering the phrase she had heard from him most often throughout the past months - _I'm trying._ She inhaled deeply, managing a faint smile. "Thank you, Link," she said softly, reaching up to cover his hand with hers. Inhaling deeply, she held her free hand out in front of her, closing her eyes, trying to focus.

Link had triggered it before - every time. She narrowed her concentration upon the faint sound of his breaths, on the gentle weight of his hand on her shoulder, on the feel of his calloused hand beneath her fingers. Warmth blossomed within her heart, and she opened her eyes to see the familiar little sphere hovering over her palm.

"I will keep trying, then," she decided, closing her hand over the light. But still a flicker of doubt clouded her soul. "I… I still wish I knew more about this. I had only just started reading the ancient records before my father… before he sent me away, to the three springs." Biting back tears, she turned her gaze out across the smoke-drenched kingdom. "Impa would know more," she murmured, barely aware that she had spoken aloud. Her eyes widened. "Impa! Link, she's the most well-read historian in the kingdom - if she doesn't have many of the ancient records herself, I'm certain she has at the very least read them!"

Link's gaze turned back to the waterfall they'd just tumbled down. "We should… go to Kakariko, then?"

Zelda hesitated at the uncertainty in his voice. A lump seemed to form in her throat, and an unfamiliar voice whispered in her mind. _Is this truly the best course of action, or are you just trying to run?_

She didn't know the answer. But the more she thought about it, the more the idea of getting away from the castle seemed to make sense. "We aren't prepared," she tried to explain. "You have the Master Sword. I have the sealing power. But I don't know what, exactly, it's even supposed to do, or how to properly use it. And you don't even have a shield, or at the very least chainmail. You haven't seen that thing, Link - it's practically as large as the castle itself. As we are now, unprepared… we would fail. So we should get out of here, come up with a new plan, and then return. At the very least we need to get you a shield so that we can get past the guardians."

Link nodded slowly. "The guard's chamber isn't far," he murmured. "They… they might have one… And you said the guardians can't get inside."

Zelda winced. "I couldn't… couldn't go back there, Link. It… it was closest to the f-first gatehouse; there are… too many…"

Link placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "S-sorry; you're right. We shouldn't… Perhaps some of the horses survived in Castle Town." He smiled at her, hesitant but determined. "We'll go to Kakariko, then," he confirmed, helping her to her feet. "Ready?"

The all-too familiar clattering of guardian legs met her ears and she froze, looking over Link's shoulder to see the machine skittering towards them, head swivelling. "_Link…"_

He whirled around, his face paling as he saw the machine. "This way," he muttered, taking her hand and pulling her quickly towards the castle wall, putting her hands into place and urging her upwards. "Go! I'm right behind you; it'll be faster if we go separately."

Zelda struggled to reply, hearing the guardian's beeping begin as it spotted them and moved closer. Whimpering, she pulled herself upwards with agility fuelled by desperation, ignoring the pain at the tips of her fingers from the strain of bearing her weight. Her hand slapped down on level stone and she pulled herself over the top, delighted to find Link scrambling up barely a moment later - just behind her, as he had promised.

But the guardian's beeping only intensified. "Go!" Link shouted, urging her towards the other side of the wall. "Just jump - _jump!"_

Heart hammering, Zelda hesitated, instead lowering herself down and climbing as fast as she could before slipping and tumbling backwards, landing with a sharp cry on her backside. Link hopped down beside her, pulling her to her feet and all but shoving her forwards. "_Run!" _he hollered. Zelda turned back to look, to make sure he was beside her -

The guardian fired. She did not see the explosion of its deadly beam, but she heard it, and saw the wall caving forwards, chunks of rock as small as her hand and as big as her entire body flying forwards. A sudden solid shove directly to her gut - a split-second impression of matted blond hair and bright blue eyes - and she stumbled several feet backwards, falling down with a breathless grunt.

The dust cleared.

With a gasp, Zelda scurried forwards, hiding behind what remained of the wall as the guardian scanned the wreckage, its eye whirling with deadly intensity. Her heart slammed against her ribcage, over and over and over again; she could not breathe as it stood there, did not dare inhale until at last it turned away, the whirring of its legs and innards steadily fading away.

Zelda sagged in relief, feeling all at once drained of energy. Heaving for breath, she closed her eyes, leaning back against the wall. _Merciful Din above… _

Slowly her panic faded, with every cleansing gulp of smoky air she took. And bone-numbing terror took its place. "Link?" she whispered. "Link!"

She got to her feet, wobbling slightly, and scanned the scorched field - there was no sign of him.

A faint groan caught her attention, and she turned to face the pile of rubble. A familiar golden-haired head emerged like dolphin breaking from the surf - but far less graceful. Zelda dashed to his side, catching him as he stumbled.

"Thanks," he mumbled, eyes half closed. He leaned heavily on her shoulder, taking slow, lurching steps, right arm draped around her as his left dangled limply at his side. "K-Kakariko?"

"The guardian's gone - we should rest for a moment," Zelda protest, refusing to move as he attempted to take another step forwards. "This way."

Watching him anxiously at her side, she helped him limp towards an intact segment of the wall and leaned him against the sturdy stone. Her heart throbbed in her chest, making her feel dizzy and slightly nauseous, as she looked him over. "You could have been killed," she whispered, reaching out as if to touch him but swiftly drawing her hand away with a blush. "How… how bad…?"

"I'm fine," he muttered, blinking several times until his bleary gaze focused. "Let's keep going."

"_Link."_ This time she did reach out. "Your arm is clearly broken, as is your leg. I need to see what else there is, so that… so that I know to be careful." _And so that I can determine whether or not we will truly be able to escape. _She didn't say the last out loud, fearing that it would make him feel worse about himself than he already did. _The last thing he needs is to think I've lost faith in him._

Beneath his clothes, loose as they were on his skinny frame, she could not tell how bad the damage was. Cautiously, dreading what she would find, she began to lift his shirt, stopping only when she reached his left shoulder and he shouted out in pain. _Add a dislocated shoulder to the list of injuries._

And his ribs… several had been broken on his chest, and she was sure that others were broken on his back. Bruises were already rising on his hips and sides, and she didn't need to see his left arm to realize that it was badly broken. His left leg, too, seemed slightly askew.

_Goddesses above… _

"One moment," Link mumbled, his voice painfully hoarse and dazed. Wincing slightly, he reached a trembling hand back to grip the hilt of the Master Sword sheathed in his shirt and jerked it forwards with an unmistakable ripping sound. Lying the sacred blade carefully on the ground, he slid his torn shirt from his shoulders. "C-can you help me wrap my arm?" he asked hoarsely, holding the dirty, worn cloth out to her. "I - we'll have to swim. I'll need both arms."

Zelda nodded, blushing slightly, taking his shirt gingerly in her hands. "What do I do?"

Link gulped and ran his shaking good hand lightly over his battered arm, cringing. "Set the bone. Put your hand - there." She winced as his calloused hands gently guided her hand to his uneven forearm, to a swollen, solid lump - the broken bone. "Hold onto both sides and push them together."

"_What?"_

"Do it!" Link demanded. "It'll be better than nothing. Z… Zelda, _please."_

She bit down hard on her lip. Nausea swirled in her stomach and she closed her eyes, bringing her hands together with a disgusting snap, immediately letting go when Link screamed and jerked away. She looked at him anxiously, noting that the color had fled from his face and sweat rendered his skin clammy as he shuddered violently, slumped weakly against the stone.

"Link?" Zelda whispered shakily, patting his cheek lightly. "L-Link, are you… did it… work?"

"M-m-my sh-shoulder's next," he whimpered, eyelids fluttering upwards to reveal glazed, pain-dulled irises.

"No," Zelda protested, tears burning in her eyes. "Link, I - I can't do that - I won't hurt you again -"

"Y-you don't have to do anything," he mumbled, taking a deep, shuddering breath and raising his left arm out to the sighed with a pained grimace. Breathing deeply, he slowly bent his arm up and backwards as if to scratch his back before reaching across to the opposite shoulder. A loud pop, and a feeble groan, and slowly he let his battered arm fall back to his side. Zelda stared at him, stunned, and yet impressed with his tenacity. As he went limp against the wall, head falling to the side as his chest heaved with desperate gasps, she realized she still had not done what he had initially asked - wrap his arm.

Grabbing the discarded shreds of his shirt, she took his left arm and tightly wound the cloth around the swollen bone, doing her best to ignore his breathless groans of pain.

But the instant she was finished, he sat straighter, trying to sit up. "Let's get out of here," he slurred, words blending into each other.

Zelda blinked, stunned. "Link, you just - you - shouldn't we rest a little longer?"

He shook his head, shrugging off her hand with a wince and slowly clawing himself to his feet using the wall for support. "No… th-the guardians. We can't stay…"

She looked long and hard into his eyes, but the determination and resolve gleaming there were unyielding. Her shoulders slumped and she looked away, across the ledge. "If we are spotted in the water, hold your breath and get underwater," she told him, resigning herself to his decision. Holding her hand out to him and gently helping him to his feet, she began to explain as they made their way to the edge.

"Our research shows that the way guardians see is… well, they send out signals in every direction, and the signals bounce back off of solid surfaces, creating sort of a virtual rendition of the world. Movement and body heat allow them to find targets. I believe that is why the guardian stopped pursuing us once the wall was destroyed - you were hidden beneath rubble, and I was behind the wall. It couldn't see us. Water is… well, more solid than air, so I think its sensors will have difficulty penetrating the surface."

She gulped. They had reached the edge, where solid stone dropped down perhaps fifty feet to the rushing water of the moat. "I… I tend to ramble when I'm nervous," she said softly, twisting her hands anxiously, feeling rather than seeing Link standing beside her.

"I'll hold your hand if you want," he murmured. "We'll do it together. I'll be alright."

She bit her lip, turning to him gratefully. "I would like that," she whispered faintly, and the calloused fingers of his right hand curled around hers.

"Ready?" he asked, and she nodded, turning her gaze upon the moat far, far below. She inhaled deeply, summoning her courage as Link pulled her forwards at a halting, uneven run, pulling them both over the edge and downwards in a rushing, windy moment of exhilarated fear.

The impact with the water felt more like a full-body slap than anything else. She was numb for a moment, her body stinging painfully as she sank beneath the surface, before the need for air kicked in and she swam back up to the surface, gasping a grateful breath. Her heart lurched as she scanned for Link, realizing that she had let go of him when she fell, and she turned in every direction desperately before spotting him several feet from her, swimming towards her with slow strokes, his face tight against the pain.

"Link!" Zelda sputtered, striking out towards him and spitting water from her mouth. "Are you - are you alright?"

He shook his lank wet hair from his face. "Fine," he assured her hoarsely, sounding slightly winded. "Head for the moat bridge - the island with the Castle Town prison. There's a forest - we'll be safe there for a while, at least."

Nodding her understanding, she began to swim with the current away from the castle, glancing back behind her to ensure that Link followed. "N-not much of a forest," she reminded him with a shudder; the water was cold. "It was - it was burned nearly to the ground before we arrived."

"Then we'll just have to hope that the guardians have left it behind," Link responded, his voice stronger but tense with pain.

The air was deathly still; birds did not sing and frogs did not chirp. The only sounds she was aware of were the gentle murmurings of water lapping up against the two of them, and Link's shallow breaths, broken every once in a while by a soft grunt of pain.

They were fortunate - it was one of the narrowest areas of the moat they could have crossed at, and the current truly was strong, dragging them both to the shore of the large island containing the prison. Upon feeling stone beneath her knees she breathed a shaky sigh of relief, crawling slowly up the rugged bank. With a barely audible whimper, Link crawled after her, his threadbare trousers clinging to his legs and accentuating just how thin he was - and just how battered his left leg, dragging behind him as if it weren't even a part of him.

Zelda reached down to help him to his feet, trying to tear her eyes away from the sight of his crushed limb. "It's… it's worse, isn't it?" she asked quietly, worry squeezing her heart.

He blinked several times. "I'm fine," he said, a little too quickly, a little too energetically, to be sincere. "So… Kakariko. We'll need a horse. The wall after the moat bridge seems mostly intact; maybe… maybe you could check to see if the stables -"

"No," Zelda interrupted. She inhaled deeply, taking notice of the brief glimmer of hurt that flashed in his eyes before swiftly disappearing. "Link, you're badly hurt. You're trying to hide it, I can tell, but people don't… people generally don't just _walk away_ after getting partially crushed by a collapsing stone wall! Y-you're lucky not to be dead or paralyzed, actually…" She had to pause; a lump of fear and despair was beginning to form in her throat at the thought of losing him. Blinking away tears, she took a shaky breath and continued.

"I agree; we need to find a horse. But not before we do something about your leg - and your arm. I'm not entirely useless here; my father saw to it that I received a bit of training in treating injuries before he allowed me to go off travelling the kingdom." She forced the image of her father's dusty, blood-soaked body from her mind. "There are plenty of broken limbs around here because of - of the guardians' attack. I'm certain we can fashion some sort of splint, and _then _we can see about finding a horse."

Link's head was bowed; she couldn't see his face but she could tell from the weary droop of his shoulders that he felt bad for slowing her down. "You should just go on without me," he offered quietly. "Princess, I…"

"I would never leave you behind," she whispered, fighting the tears that threatened to return. "Not just because I doubt I'd last more than a few minutes out there on my own, but also because I care about you. I don't want to lose you."

He lifted his head to meet her gaze, his eyes filled with hesitant hope. "Really?" he asked in a voice barely audible over the gentle rushing of the moat.

Zelda nodded firmly. "I'll escape with you, or not at all," she vowed stubbornly. Out of the corner of her eye she glimpsed one of the many guardians skittering through the remains of the castle, and a note of fear returned to her soul. "Sh-should we get going, then?"

It was a horribly awkward position they found themselves in, given any other circumstance - Zelda's right arm around Link's chest, which was currently bare, and his battered arm draped across her shoulders, held in place by her hand. But with the state of his leg, it truly was the only way for him to move at all. He was trying to hurry, hobbling forward at an alarming rate considering his crushed leg and broken ribs no doubt pressing painfully against his lungs with each of his rapid breaths. For his sake, Zelda did her best to drag her own feet, hoping to slow him at least a bit; if a guardian spotted them they would have no choice but to run, and she wanted him to save his strength just in case.

His body was trembling against her by the time they reached the northernmost of the two small plateaus on the island. Perhaps because guardians were too wide to fit along the narrow stretch of land between the cliffside and the moat as it flowed into the Tamio River, several trees were nearly intact, especially their upper boughs, although the acrid stench of smoke was just as ubiquitous. Fortunately there was no shortage of keeled-over trees and broken branches littering the ashy ground.

Link pulled away from her, stumbling forward and half-collapsing against the side of the plateau. Slowly, eyes tightly shut against the pain, he stretched out his left leg as straight as it would go, moaning slightly. Zelda looked away, her heart aching. With a heavy sigh, she squared her shoulders and scanned the scorched forest floor. _Two branches, each a little longer than his leg… _She could almost see the diagram in her mind's eye.

He was around her same height; with that in mind she tested the various long sticks she found against herself. Many were too brittle, weakened by the fire; others just a little too short to be useful. _Farore, guide me,_ she thought with an ache in her heart.

_Who am I fooling?_

Link could not run. He could barely walk. And she had no doubt that though his strength and endurance had been tested and developed in extreme ways over the past months, he had already expended much of it in making the swim across the moat. There was no guarantee that he would be able to hold his own in a fight.

He was under the illusion that he could still somehow do something to help. _And I'm the one fueling that illusion._ _And for what?_

Perhaps it was her own selfishness. Perhaps she was too much of a coward to try getting to Kakariko alone, so her solution was to drag Link along no matter the cost.

For she knew, she could tell, that there were only two things motivating him now - his duty to the kingdom, and his desire to protect her.

_We're both doomed. It's just a matter of when._

She hated it, hated the feeling of gloom that settled upon her soul. But truly it was difficult to have hope, surrounded as she was by black corpses of trees and a sky gray with ash and smoke, when her power had thus far failed when it truly mattered.

Pausing just a moment in her search, she looked down at her hand, turning her palm upwards and concentrating. _Link,_ she thought, imagining his gentle, hesitant smile, his empathy, his willingness to listen when she realized the full force of what was expected her - and was afraid.

Her eyes flashed open, and she saw that her hand was conspicuously absent of light. _Fear._

She had not truly been afraid when she used her powers against Sir Jassom. And she had not been afraid while practicing in the courtyard - why would she have been, when she was surrounded by sturdy castle walls and skilled knights at every corner?

But when fleeing the gatehouse, pursued by guardians… there had been immense fear. And even now, she felt frightened, exposed, entirely unsafe.

_Is that it, then? Not just Link, but… courage? Is that the key to my powers?_

She frowned, picking up a stick slightly thicker than others she'd come across, and at just the right height. After examining a second small broken branch and finding it suitable, she turned back towards the cliffside where she'd left Link. Lost in thought, she hadn't realized how far she had wandered until she saw that he was entirely out of sight.

And she could hear the distant rattling footsteps of a guardian.

Her blood ran cold and she froze, paralyzed by memories. Screams. Blood. Fire and smoke. Dead eyes, slack features, bodies twisted and broken -

The guardian skittered into sight, its blue eye spiralling madly. Her heart pounded like a war drum in her chest and her limbs shook violently, suddenly weak, her strength sapped by terror. Her knees suddenly too weak to hold her she crumpled to the ground, her eyes wide. "Help," she croaked, struggling to scream, though she knew that no help could come. "H-help…"

It was no use. For whatever reason she could not get her voice loud enough. She curled her arms around herself, shuddering, as a second guardian joined the first. She was out of range - but soon, she knew, they would be close enough to detect her.

_Run! _her mind commanded. Wobbling, she pushed herself to her feet, and still that terrible weakness in her knees. _Merciful Din above…_

She swallowed thickly. _I need to get out of here _now - _before it's too late!_

Sucking in a deep gasp of smoky air, she forced herself to back away, slowly, gradually putting more and more distance between her and the ancient machines, until at last the instinct to run overwhelmed her and she whirled around, sprinting as fast as she could between charred trees and over black logs, twigs snapping beneath her feet and ash flying up in a cloud behind her. Coughing, shuddering, her joints aching with weakness, she ran without thought, her mind overtaken by fear hammering through her blood. The narrow strip of land between the plateau and the river neared; her strength gave out and she stumbled, falling to her knees, breathless sobs wracking her body.

"L-Link," she choked, raising her face to look at him through her tears. "Th-the guardians… th-there are g-guardians… two… I c-couldn't scream…"

She barely heard his poorly-masked grunt of pain as he inched himself closer to her, but she felt his hand as gently it settled on her shoulder. "It's alright," he soothed, but his own voice betrayed hints of fear. "We… we're going to get away. You're safe now - I won't let anything happen to you as long as you're here."

She shook her head, staring at him desperately. "Th-there's too many of them," she protested shakily. "Th-th-they're _everywhere…"_

Link was quiet for a moment, bowing his head. "You will reach Kakariko safely," he said, his voice solemn with utter sincerity. "I won't let _anything_ hurt you."

Her shoulders sagged with despair. "And what about you?" she demanded, fresh tears burning in her eyes, an overwhelming flood. "Y-you sound as if y-you'll sacrifice yourself, or… or…"

"I don't want to die," he murmured.

She blinked several times. Though she hated herself for this moment of weakness, for doubting him, the words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. "You don't?"

His neck bulged slightly as he swallowed and curled his arms around himself. "I thought… for a while… that maybe I… I did," he whispered, his voice steadily growing quieter, his words more and more unsure. "Especially when Jassom said… said that I could tell the Master Sword to choose him."

"But it didn't - it killed him," Zelda reminded him, feeling her own sorrows fade a little in the face of his insecurity.

Link nodded slowly, eyes focused intently on some spot on the charred ground. "I don't want to die," he repeated, sounding a bit stronger. "I think… deep down, I never did." He sucked in a deep breath, his ribs pressing against his skin. With a slight wince, he continued. "Wh-what I really wanted was… _escape. _F-from everything - from the pain in my heart, in my soul; this… this suffocating hatred f-for myself. I was afraid. Afraid of going on, continuing to live, fighting against that p-pain until the end of my days. Death would've been an easy escape. A way out. But… there are bigger things than fear."

Zelda blinked, her attention caught by his words. _Fear? Is he saying… is there a way to get rid of fear? If I could learn how… I'd be able to truly use my powers…_ "Wh-what do you mean?" she asked quietly, wiping her tear-stained face.

He turned to her, his eyes bright and strong. "There are things I have to do," he answered softly, smiling ruefully . "I… have a responsibility to this land. A calamitous evil bent on destroying everything certainly more important than my fears." His smile faded, and a distant look entered his eyes as slowly he studied the broken castle, the scorched woodlands and ash-polluted waters of the moat. "More than that, though… when I think about this land, and -" he glanced at her and instantly flushed a deep red - "and people I care about, and what my death would mean for them, I can't even bring myself to truly consider it. I… I may not believe in myself, but I won't let myself fail when it comes to protecting them from everything I can."

He fell silent, absently tugging his hair, shoulders hunched in a way that described his anxiety. Just as Zelda was about to speak up, his head snapped up and he looked deep into her eyes, his brow furrowed with determination. "Z-Zelda, you… _you _are more important than my fear," he said, his voice still uncertain but stronger than ever. "Wh-when I… think about you, and I see you, in danger or… or afraid, or even if you're happy, I realize what you mean to me. I realize what I would do to… to keep you safe. The fear is still there; the pain is still there. But it doesn't control me anymore. I'm… I'm able to focus more on what I can do _now_ to help, instead of what I've… f-failed in the past, or w-who I wish I was."

Zelda could feel her heart pounding. Her tears had all but abated, and she stared hard into Link's gaze. "How did you know?" she asked weakly, hesitantly reaching to enclose his hand in hers. "How did you know I was… I was feeling so frightened?"

He offered her a slight smirk, the most mischievous expression she'd ever seen on him, but his smile quickly faded as he spoke. "Well… we're on the run from ancient mechanical weapons turned evil, the age-old Calamity has arisen and nearly destroyed the castle, and… and a lot of people have been killed." There was no trace of mischief in his gaze. Instead, he bowed his head, his thumb absently tracing circles over her knuckles. "It's… it's only natural that we're frightened." He blinked rapidly, desolation written across his face.

Zelda gently squeezed his hand, shifting closer. "But there are bigger things, like you said," she murmured, gazing at him as if seeing him for the first time.

_I wanted to know if he wanted to die. And instead… he spoke about overcoming fear._

He would never admit to it, but she knew he had planned it. It was obvious in his uncertainty, in the hesitance of his words. He had wanted to help her, but hadn't been entirely confident that he could do so. And it was incredibly touching that he would do that for her, that he would speak out despite his insecurity.

But it had worked. She smiled at him, blinking away the last of her tears, feeling hope rekindling in her soul. _It's not just about thinking about those I care for. It's about asking myself what _I _will do to help them._

Link broke her thoughts with a sigh, reaching with his good hand for one of the sticks she had brought back. Carefully he measured it against his leg before taking the other stick and setting it along the other side of his leg, tearing a strip of cloth from his battered trousers - at this rate, Zelda thought with a blush, it wouldn't be long before he hadn't any clothing left at all - and carefully binding them in place with a low hiss of pain.

"I can do that," Zelda said quickly, reaching forward before realizing there was nothing in her hands that she could use. Link nodded his acceptance, tearing another strip from his trousers and shakily holding it out to her. As gently as she could - a difficult task, seeing that the two sticks needed to be firmly secured in order to offer any support - she fastened the makeshift splint around his leg, doing her best to focus on her hands instead of Link's shallow, pained breaths.

"I think that'll do it," he grunted, pressing himself firmly against the back of the cliff and slowly pushing himself to his feet. He took a wobbling step forward, grimacing as he put his weight onto his splinted leg for the briefest moment. "R-right, then. It works."

Zelda smiled, relieved, but she couldn't shake off a sense of sadness at the sight of him, clothing in tatters, bruised and scraped and swollen, the Master Sword hanging limply from one of his belt loops. _How different would this have been if he was never trapped in the lockup?_

Link turned his gaze to the sky. "Still a couple hours before nightfall… Are you ready?"

Zelda's smile faded at the thought of facing more guardians, but she nodded nonetheless. _The sooner we're away from the castle, the better._ She took his hand, as much for her own comfort as for his, and turned her gaze to the moat bridge just barely visible from where they were. "Let's get out of here," she murmured, feeling suddenly a hundred years old. _At last… the end of this wretched day is in sight._


	6. Chapter 6

**WHEN LIGHTNING STRIKES**

**==]—=** ... **=—[==**

**In this chapter I 'invented' a stable in Castle Town. There isn't any area for horses in the castle itself, or in Castle Town, but all the knights we've seen in the outdoor cutscenes have had horses. They must have had **_**somewhere**_ **to keep them. I've put the stable east of the Water Reservoir and northwest of the Central Square, if you were interested.**

**I'm 99% sure... er, make that 80% sure, that the next chapter will be the last. If it is the last chapter... maybe things'll stop being so depressing.**

**==]—=** ... **=—[==**

_One step at a time. One step at a time. One step at a time._

That was the mantra that Link repeated to himself over and over and over again. It was the only way he could keep himself from crumpling in a helpless pile at Zelda's side. His left leg felt as if his bones had been replaced with jagged swords, sending searing pain through his body even with the splint.

Pain pierced his lungs with every breath. He couldn't bring himself to look down at his chest out of fear that the sight of the swollen red lumps clearly protruding from his ribs would make them seem to hurt worse. And he had certainly don no favors to his arm by using it to swim; although his shoulder had begun to feel a bit better, his forearm pulsed with daggers of pain. His hand had swollen to frightening proportions, unnaturally discoloured and misshapen.

A wave of despair crushed over his heart and he bit back tears, taking another dragging step forward. _Hold it together. To falter now would be to fail Zelda._

_I _will _protect her. She _will _get to Kakariko. The alternative is… too brutal to think about._

He'd seen fear in her eyes, and despair, and hopelessness, and it frightened him. She, who was his light in the darkness, felt just as uncertain about their fates as he did. And for that reason, he refused to let himself give in to the pain plaguing his body, to the terror creeping around his heart. _Now… now it's my turn to be the strong one._

_Not that I _ feel _strong._

_Or that I could ever be good enough to truly help her._

_But I have to try, at least…_

So he pressed onwards, his hand in hers, limping slowly over the uneven stone and charred grass. When she turned to look at him he offered her a smile, forcing the pain from his face. It was difficult - like wading through thick mud on his knees - but he wouldn't accept failure. Not this time.

Walking through the ruined forest was achingly disheartening. Smoke and ash hung heavy in the air. Dead crisps of grass crumbled beneath his bare feet, cold and gray. There was no birdsong, no hum of insects, no cheerful splashing of fish leaping up over the moat.

_For so long, I wished I could go outside. Now… being here is almost worse._

_Knowing, remembering, how beautiful and grand it all was, and seeing it all destroyed… _The sight and the smell and the sound of it all weighed heavily on his heart.

Up ahead, the hulking stone wall beyond the moat bridge masked Castle Town - or what remained of it - from view, and he dreaded setting foot there. _If it's anything like this island, it'll all be gone. And… _A cold thought turned his blood to ice. _What if people didn't get out in time? What happened to the horses?_ Though he hoped that at least one of them had survived, he knew it was hardly likely.

Then he thought of Zelda's horse. _Tundra, if I remember correctly._ A stubborn animal, and a fierce one. He had sometimes felt that he was entirely unnecessary as Zelda's knight, as long as she had Tundra with her.

But the animal hadn't been particularly fond of her at first. Link had offered some advice, a little while before his… accident. After that, he remembered Zelda talking to him about her horse quite a few times when she visited him. One day, when she felt that she had finally won Tundra's loyalty and trust, had been perhaps the happiest he'd seen her.

_If he didn't escape… if he's dead in there… _He felt his soul shrink a little.

_Maybe… maybe I should go in first. If there's a horse, I can bring it back and we'll just ride through the ruins without seeing anything… dead. And if there isn't a horse, then… I'll know where to avoid._

The wall and watchtower beyond the bridge seemed mostly intact. Inhaling as deeply as he could, trying to get his weary mind to focus harder on their surroundings, he pulled Zelda towards the tower. "Wait here," he murmured. "I'll go… check it out."

She shook her head vehemently. "If there's a guardian, you wouldn't be able to run," she protested, her grip tightening on his hand. "I'm not leaving you. Not after… everything else that's happened."

Link swallowed thickly, trying to think. His head was beginning to pound. _Can't just say her beloved horse might be dead in there. Along with who knows how many people, and… and children…_

Merciful Din, he was beginning to feel nauseous at just the thought of it.

Choosing his words carefully, he tried to explain. "If… if there's a horse roaming around out there, it'll probably be scared half to death. I know how to keep a horse calm - I've been doing it for most of my life." Memories flashed through his mind - a spirited bay mare, eyes burning with determination as slowly he walked around her paddock, his father watching carefully - _She could be dead in there, too._ Shaking his head, trying to clear it, he forced away the tears building behind his eyes. "If you don't know what you're doing, a frightened horse could kill you." _Not to mention however many guardians are roaming around. _"I need you to stay here, Z-Zelda. I promise - I'd never abandon you. In any way. I'll come back in just a little while."

She stared at him, her green eyes wide with fear. As he waited a look of resignation enter her gaze, and she nodded slowly. "If you aren't back in five minutes, I'm coming after you," she warned, and Link smiled in relief.

"It'll only take a moment," he assured her, hoping it was true, before giving her hand a light squeeze and turning away.

Instantly, without her by his side, it was more difficult to push aside the pain pulsing through his bones. Taking a moment to steady himself, he forced his feet to move, _one step at a time, one step at a time._ He wanted to hurry, if only to keep Zelda from eventually coming after him, but his broken leg only barely allowed him to walk, let alone run or even jog.

The small hill past the moat bridge was not enough to hide the fate of Castle Town from him. Even before he had truly entered what once was the edge of city, he could see that it had been nearly levelled to the ground. Fragments of charred shingles and chunks of burnt, twisted wood lay scattered across the cracked stone streets, all of it covered in a fine layer of ash. And… as he had expected, he could see irregularly-shaped black lumps on the ground near several of the houses. _Corpses._

Fighting back the nausea curdling in his stomach, he limped steadily towards where the knights' stable once stood, taking care that there was always some sort of solid structure between him and the guardians roaming the area. Bits of broken walls, piles of rubble, planks of wood embedded at an angle in the ground…

His heart plummeted to his toes as he neared, seeing that the stable had been completely destroyed. Only… only bodies remained.

_But Tundra isn't here - that's good; maybe he escaped…_

A low grumble met his ears and he jumped forward with a startled cry, whirling around and instantly crumpling, fresh pain in erupting in his broken leg. Groaning, he curled himself over the battered limb, hardly daring to breathe; it felt as if it was being slowly, deliberately broken all over again.

It took several moments to his whirling mind to clear, and when it did, he could hear heavy breaths nearby. Opening his eyes, he was stunned to see a dark brown muzzle hanging over his head, trailing a long lead rope. Link sat up, staring, hardly able to believe it.

"Mara?" he murmured, reaching a shaking hand up towards the dark bay horse.

She snorted at him, moving her head away, feigning indifference. Link grinned, slowly pushing himself to his feet with a bit of a grimace. "What're you doing here?" he asked gently, taking an uneven step forward. The young brown mare continued to ignore him, and Link's relief at seeing his horse faded into guilt. "I'm sorry," he tried, his smile disappearing. "I… I would have visited if I could… they had me locked up."

Mara turned back to regard him, tossing her head as if in resignation before walking towards him, gently nosing his uninjured shoulder with her broad muzzle. Unexpected tears pricked his eyes as he wrapped his arms around her thick neck, breathing in the warm scent of sweat and hay that he had grown to love. "I'm so glad you're safe," he murmured, combing his fingers through her tangled mane. Mara whickered softly, leaning slightly forwards into him.

_Even after all this time away… you still remember me._

Pulling away, feeling overwhelmed by his horse's loyalty, Link carefully examined her body, checking for wounds. Miraculously, she seemed entirely unharmed except for a few small bruises, although she was dirtier than he had ever seen her. Despite the pain in his swollen left hand, he checked each of her hooves, carefully removing stones and dirt. When he finished, he looked into her soft brown gaze and smiled tiredly. "It's almost over," he promised, rubbing her dusty coat with his good hand. He took her long, fraying lead rope and carefully bound it to the other side of her halter, forming makeshift reins. "I'll get you out of here."

He studied the ruins of the stable. Some distance away, several burnt planks of wood had fallen against a partly-intact corner in such a way as to form a small shelter; he could see little piles of horse dung scattered around it. "So that's how you survived," he murmured, feeling Mara's breath on his shoulder as she turned her head in the direction he was gazing at. "Clever girl."

Continuing his survey of their surroundings, he was relieved to see that, at the moment, there were no guardians in the area. There were several in the main part of Castle Town, patrolling the ruined streets, heads swivelling in every direction as they searched for a living target. Link gulped. Hiding himself had been simple, but hiding himself _and _a tall warhorse…

"We'll have to move fast," Link murmured, glancing down at his splinted leg. It had been forced to stand straight, which would not work at all when riding a horse. With a heavy sigh, he eased himself to the ground leaning on what once might have been the well at the center of the stable. Sliding the Master Sword from his fraying belt loop, he began to carefully saw through one of the sticks just above his knee. When both sticks had been trimmed, he untied the bit of cloth that had bound them in place and fastened it instead around his calf, along with the severed pieces of the sticks.

Sighing, he cradled his left arm against his chest; it had begun throbbing anew. Mara watched him anxiously, her attention flitting between him and the guardians patrolling Castle Town.

Holding his breath, Link pulled himself to his feet. His left calf, now supported by the four pieces of the stick, actually felt easier to walk on. But his thigh and kneecap were also broken in a few places; standing wasn't any easier. Replacing the Master Sword at his side, he launched himself over Mara's back with a hiss of pain, eyes watering anew. _With any luck, that'll be the only time I have to do that between here and Kakariko._

With one hand buried in her black mane in an attempt to steady himself and his weaker hand wrapped around the reins, he tapped her sides with his heels as firmly as he could manage, spurring her into a swift canter. Although it had felt like several minutes had passed when he travelled from the watchtower to the ruins of the stable, Mara made the journey in a matter of seconds, and his heart soared with relief when he saw Zelda hurrying out of the watchtower.

"I'm not leaving you again," she reminded him breathlessly, but there was a smile on her face as Mara slowed to a stop. Her eyes widened. "This - this is your horse, isn't it?"

Link nodded. "This is Mara. I… I didn't see Tundra," he added quickly. "Which means he escaped."

Zelda blinked several times, looking confused. "I know," she said. "When we neared the castle, we left our horses behind. Jassom didn't think they would make it through Castle Town."

Link swallowed thickly, feeling suddenly like a complete fool. _Just as stupid as you look, then._

_She's already _seen _Castle Town - how did you think she got here in the first place?_

_And of course they would have gone through on foot - it's easier to hide._

_Idiot!_

Zelda was speaking to him, sounding concerned. Asking if he was alright. He felt horribly small. _She's the smartest person I've ever known. What in Din's name would she ever want with me?_

_I'm nothing. Nothing. A weapon. Just stop thinking, Link, you'll just make everything worse. Stupid. Stupid!_

Her hand around his, soft and warm. "Link, please - what's wrong? What did I say?"

He blinked rapidly, forcing himself not to look at her. "It's not your fault. You didn't - you're -" He grit his teeth, rolling his shoulders back in a mindless attempt to clear his thoughts. "We need to get out of here. There are at least ten guardians out there."

Zelda's face paled, and without another word she took his hand and allowed him to help her onto Mara's back. Her hands curled around his midriff and his mouth went dry, his heart inexplicably pounding faster at the contact. Taking in a shaky breath, he nudged Mara's sides and guided her back around to face the way they'd come before urging her into a fierce gallop.

Hooves clattering over cobblestones she charged over the ruins, clearing jagged piles of charred wood in a single powerful leap, navigating the uneven terrain with skill. She had been trained for battle, to hear the cries of the wounded on every side, to stand amidst clashing steel and charging men. More so, she had been trained to travel safely over the worst of terrains, bearing her rider to victory. So it was without faltering that she charged through the crumbling mess of Castle Town.

Link could hear the beeping of a guardian as it spotted them and felt Zelda hold him tighter. _Almost there - once we're past the city gates…_

A laser beam whooshed over their heads and Zelda screamed, burying her face in his shoulder. Link's heart pounded painfully against his battered ribs; he wished he could comfort her, but as it was he was having enough difficulty holding on. The beeping resumed, this time from two - three - directions. Link clenched his teeth, feeling nauseous, watching the grand archway draw steadily nearer, the rapid rhythm of Mara's hooves on cobblestones mirroring the desperate racing of his heart.

Searing heat just over his head; he flinched and crouched lower, feeling Zelda do the same, as a second blast crashed into the archway, punching a crumbling hole through it. Mara squealed in terror but continued to run as chunks of stone rained down on them -

And then they were out. Link sagged in relief, shuddering, seeing the wide open expanse of Hyrule Field with its scattered patches of bushy trees stretching out before him. _We did it - we're free!_

And it seemed that the field had not been utterly decimated, as the castle had been. Hope seared his heart, raw and euphoric, as his eyes were overwhelmed by colors they had glimpsed only in Zelda's eyes over the past months. Under the clouded, smoke-hazy sky, bright emerald grass swept over vast, rolling fields, broken here and there by stands of trees, their trunks a rich brown and their leaves a deep spring green. Patches of wildflowers, pale yellow and purest white and pale blue, speckled the ground passing beneath Mara's tumbling hooves.

_I'm free!_

Zelda's shriek and a renewal of high-pitched beeps snapped him from his delight. Whipping his head over his shoulder, Link's heart nearly stopped as he saw two guardian stalkers ambling after them, eyes whirling madly. A chill struck his blood and he hunched lower on Mara's back, knowing that their lives depended on her speed. "Run!" he urged, snapping the makeshift reins as best he could with one hand. With a low snort she continued at her breakneck pace, charging eastward over the grass, and just as Link heard the whoosh of the laser he tugged at her halter rope, guiding her to veer away at the last second.

But when the beeping started up again, it was joined by two more sets of beeps. _Goddesses, preserve us,_ he prayed, his heart racing with terror. He released the reins for just a moment to stroke Mara's sweaty neck with his injured hand, trying to offer her as much comfort as he could.

One of the sets of beeps ceased, and Link tensed, digging his heels into Mara's sides; she shot forward with an extra burst of speed, missing the blast by a hair. Zelda's grip around his stomach tightened. The next blast came just a moment later, so close that the tattered pant leg on his right side caught fire. With a startled yelp he slapped at the flames as Mara veered to the left, shying away from the heat. Sweat dripping down his face, he closed his hand around the charred, flaming cloth with a strangled yell and tore it away, letting it fall away to the grass beneath. Teeth tightly clenched against the new stinging pain in his hand and knee, Link glanced over his shoulder, pulling Mara into a sharp turn just in time to dodge the third blast, fired from a guardian now some distance away. _It's working - we're losing them!_

"Y-you alright?" Zelda asked, breathless with fear.

"I'm fine," he responded, turning his attention back to the fields ahead. _Rebonae Bridge. Then, Kakariko. Trees to the south - easier to dodge guardian fire - longer route to the bridge, though -_

They reached a fork in the path, one veering south, the other north. Link sucked in a desperate breath, making a split second decision and pulling Mara southward, to the trees only just visible beyond the crest of the next hill. His heart lurched as he saw a column of smoke beyond. _Idiot! Mabe Village's that way - leading the guardians straight to it!_

Heart racing, he turned Mara away, just as a guardian's beam struck the ground she had crossed just moments before. _What?_

Link glanced behind again, feeling nausea coil cold in his stomach at the sight of two different guardians pursuing them. He could still see the first three, swiftly fading into the distance. _They're everywhere!_

A flaming explosion over their heads. Mara tossed her head, ears flattened against her skull, and Link patted her neck again. "It'll be alright; we'll get through this!" he told her, his voice shaky with uncertainty.

Then from the top of the next hill another guardian scrambled closer, its body instantly aglow with angry magenta as it took aim. Link clenched his teeth, yanking the Master Sword from his waist and holding it steadily outward as they neared, jabbing it deep into the guardian's eye and yanking it out as they passed, leaving it collapsing uselessly behind them. He flinched as a thick beam fired past them, pounding into the earth mere feet from Mara's hooves, setting the grass ablaze. And then another explosion, directly in front of them, sending tremors through the ground. Mara skidded to a halt before the flames, whinnying in shrill terror as the guardians converged. "Keep going!" Link urged desperately, nudging her sides, but as she turned restlessly from side to side, seeing the guardians scrambling closer, he could tell she was working herself towards a full-blown panic.

As another blast hurtled towards them Mara bolted with a high-pitched, terrified squeal, fleeing eastward. Link held on for dear life felt Zelda clinging to him almost tight enough to break his other ribs. Heart racing, he struggled to regain control, clinging to the reins in one hand and swinging the Master Sword wildly when a guardian came at them from the side, severing one of its segmented legs from its body with a small explosion of pale blue sparks. Mara wheeled away from the flickering stump, whinnying shrilly, inadvertently running right into another guardian. Link stabbed the Master Sword through its eye and yanked it back out, resolutely tugging the reins to the side, trying to get back on course -

The next laser struck the closest yet. With a terrified, anguished squeal, Mara slipped sideways, hurling her riders from her back. The world twisted around him for a moment and then there was a brutally hard strike to his chest and he lay still, unable to move, the breath yanked from his lungs. As quickly as he could, he rolled onto his back and pushed himself to his feet, doubling over almost instantly from the pain shooting through his ribs.

Gasping shallow, jerky breaths of air back into his lungs, he forced himself to straighten, looking around with a heart pounding so hard it hurt. Zelda was just a few feet away, crawling slowly towards him with a grimace, and Mara…

It was as if he'd been winded all over again.

Mara lay sprawled on her side, smoke rising from her body. He watched, trembling with weak hope, but she did not draw breath. Tears burned in his eyes, more insistently than ever before. "_Mara!" _he managed to choke out, stumbling unevenly towards her. A lump formed in his throat as he neared, seeing the blood, seeing her dark eyes wide and staring, never to burn with life again. Feeling suddenly weak in the knees, he crumpled at her side with a slight grunt and gently ran a hand over her black mane.

"_Farore, no…"_

His blood pounded in his ears. _This is my fault. She died because of me. Because I couldn't protect her. I told her everything would be alright -_

A light, shaking touch on his shoulder. "Link," Zelda whispered hoarsely. "I… I'm so…"

The unmistakable clattering of guardian legs. "_Get down!"_ Link hissed, pulling her beneath Mara's stomach before curling himself protectively over her, his heart throbbing in his throat. He had dropped the Master Sword when he fell, and there were no ledges or trees immediately nearby that they could run to. There only chance was if Mara's body managed to mask them from the guardian's sensors.

He could feel Zelda trembling beneath him. He didn't dare draw breath as the guardian ambled steadily closer, a rhythmic mechanical whirring sound growing ever louder until, from the corner of his eye, Link saw its clawed foot come down mere inches from his feet. _Nayru's love - it's right above us!_

Zelda whimpered faintly, and Link held her close. The heavy, metallic scent of blood hung in the air and tears dripped down his cheeks as he realized that his side was quickly getting soaked in it - _Mara's blood._ Biting his lip hard, drawing in a shaking breath through his nose, he closed his eyes and waited, every muscle in his body tense with fear.

A few more moments that stretched into eternities. The guardian shifted slightly, and Link cursed himself for dropping the Master Sword; the mechanical beast's core was directly above him, and with his sword he could have destroyed it.

Instead he remained still, his body draped over Zelda's, a human shield should the worst happen. And the guardian began to back away, retreating back to wherever it had come from. Link waited, his heart reaching impossible new speeds, until he could no longer hear the rattling of its legs. Then, holding his breath, he slowly raised his head from behind Mara's chest. The guardian was passing over the crest of a small hill to the west, returning to its position.

His shoulders sagged in relief, and he carefully stood up, holding his hand out to the Princess. His cheeks flushed hotter than the fires of Death Mountain and he ducked his head, mortally embarrassed. "I - uh, s-sorry," he stammered, unable to meet her gaze. "Th-that was…"

"Quick thinking," Zelda finished for him, taking his hand. Link gulped and dragged his eyes upward. She smiled grimly at him, but it didn't reach her eyes. "What do we do now?"

Link inhaled shakily, searching the thick, slightly-scorched grass for a hint of blue. Carefully he limped towards the Master Sword and lifted it in his right hand. "W-well… Rebonae Bridge'll be the closest. If the stable's still… still intact, we might be able to… rent another horse and… and continue the journey to Kakariko." His voice had gotten steadily quieter as he spoke; he was barely aware that Zelda had taken his hand again until she spoke.

"Link, I'm so sorry about Mara," she murmured. "It… it wasn't your fault -"

"It was," he interrupted, hating the tears that burned anew in his eyes. "I… should've - should've protected her, or done better at keeping her calm…"

"These are guardians," Zelda reminded him with a shudder. "The legends say that hordes of enemy forces fled at the mere sight of them. Your horse must have been incredibly brave, to have kept a level head as long as she did…"

Link shook his head, unwilling to cast the blame on the guardians. _This was my fault. _Mine. _I should have done better._ "We need to get going," he said, forcing the pain from his voice and weakly rubbing his eyes with a dirty hand. "They might return."

Zelda nodded meekly; she didn't relinquish her hand as they headed off on foot. Link's jaws tightened as he rested weight on his broken leg, feeling white-hot daggers of pain stabbing into him, sending waves of agony directly to his mind. _Focus!_ he screamed inwardly at himself as his vision went white with the next step. Evidently four sticks weren't enough to truly support him.

They began climbing a small rise, and with each step he felt as if he was losing more and more of himself as the pain broke up his thoughts and scattered them uselessly across his mind; images of the world came as choppy images, as if he was flipping through the images captured by Zelda's Sheikah Slate as fast as he could. Nothing was connected; one moment Zelda was beginning to turn her head and the next she was facing him, her lips moving out of synchronization with her voice. "Should we stop for a minute?"

He could barely feel himself reply. "No," he answered, and his voice sounded distant in his ears. _No! I'm losing - _another jarring step - _consciousness - _the top of the ridge; over the crowns of bushy trees in the distance he could see the stable - _almost_ \- another step - _there -_

He didn't know when Zelda had stopped holding his hand, but he realized suddenly that his left arm was draped across her shoulders and she was holding him against her side, supporting him. They had begun the descent down the other side of the hill; no longer fighting gravity, the strain on his injured leg was much less. Although pain still fogged his thoughts, his vision steadily began to clear.

And the beeping started up again. Link gasped, his heart lurching with terror as he turned and saw a guardian rapidly approaching from further south along the ridge as a second descended from a tall northern hill, scrambling over grass and stones.

_There's nowhere to hide!_

The grove of trees huddled at the bank of the river were much too far away, still partially concealed by a small hill.

_I have to fight._

"Run," he told Zelda grimly, shaking free of her hold and adjusting his grip on the Master Sword's hilt.

"Link, I - I can't do that -"

One guardian fired; Link focused on the oncoming blast and, at the last moment, swung the Master Sword with the flat of the blade angled to catch the bolt. It ricocheted off of the sacred metal and landed on the hillside, starting a small fire. "_Run!" _Link insisted, rubbing his right shoulder, which ached from the force of deflecting the powerful blow. "You can make it to the trees in time; I never could. Go, _now."_

But he felt Zelda's hand on his shoulder, saw out of the corner of her eyes her palm raised - an attempt to find her powers. "I'm not leaving you behind," she insisted, her voice trembling with fear.

Link swallowed tightly, pulling her down beside him as a guardian's beam whooshed over their heads. "Then stay down," he pleaded, allowing a note of desperation to enter his voice. "Zelda, _please."_

"I thought you said you wanted to live," she whispered, her grip tightening on his arm.

He stood up quickly, turning to face the guardians so that she wouldn't see the hurt on his face - he couldn't muster the willpower to try and hide it. "I do," he responded sadly. "But… that might not be possible."

The first guardian fired again, and he deflected the blow, again wincing as the force behind it nearly dislocated his shoulder. Limping forward as fast as he could, he turned to the second guardian, only moments from its attack. With a strangled cry of rage and pain he launched himself into the air, sword out before him, and pierced the machine's deadly eye with barely a moment to spare. Link yanked his blade out and ducked beneath the remaining guardian's next attack, feeling a flicker of hope kindle within his soul.

Until two more sets of beeps joined the first.

"They've sent out a signal," Zelda called anxiously. Link limped back to her, standing tall as the burning red targets zeroed in on his chest. "They can be programmed to search for one target in particular - once they find it, they can tell the others - _Link!"_

He dropped flat to the ground at her side, feeling heat pass much too close over his head, and he lunged to his feet only to stagger back with a cry at the stronger wave of agony wavering over his leg. _Shouldn't get up that fast - _

"Goddesses, _please!"_ Zelda wept, holding her hands out before her, fingers stretched taught as she struggled with her powers.

The next guardian's blast only just barely missed him; he sidestepped only just in time. Pulse skyrocketing within his neck, he turned and hacked repeatedly at a limb from the nearest guardian, severing it with a mighty blue flash and sending it tilting backwards, off balance. Another guardian's frantic series of beeps ceased in the instant before it fire and Link ducked again, letting the white-hot blast shoot over his head and directly into the guardian whose leg he'd removed, destroying it.

Using the Master Sword to push himself back to his feet, he glanced quickly behind him, only to feel his heart forget to beat when he noticed that Zelda was not where he had last seen her. Fear pulsing through him, he scanned the field, deflecting a guardian's blast with the flat of his blade and wincing as the force of it sent him reeling backwards - _Zelda!_

A guardian. She had hand raised towards it, terror written across her face - she was trying to use her power -

Link sprinted towards her, his heart leaping up into his throat. Ignoring his broken leg, using it as it was never meant to be used in such a state, he dashed towards the Princess, lunging the last few feet just as the guardian fired, his arms closing around her.

White-hot agony split horizontally across his back and he screamed, the pain stealing the strength from his limbs even as he fell forward with Zelda safely in his blood dripped down his back and he trembled, his back arching painfully. _No - can't fail - still more guardians - _

His teeth tightly smashed together, he dragged himself to his feet, barely aware of Zelda's frantic protests. He could feel her arm around his and forcefully he tugged himself free, wincing at the sight of tears in her wide eyes. "D-don't be afraid," he tried to encourage her, hoping that his words were not slurring as much as they felt like they were. "I'll… defeat them… then we can run…"

His mind wavered. The guardians crowded around them, four red targets mingling over Link's bare chest. Before the first could attack he plunged his blade into its eye; when he approached the next it climbed over the remains of its comrade, attempting to get its weakness out of reach, but in doing so it exposed a vibrant blue core. Link didn't hesitate, slamming the Master Sword hilt-deep inside, and the guardian emitted a faint crackling noise, its limbs going limp and the light fading from its body.

"_Link!"_

He turned around at Zelda's scream, only to see a jagged white bolt racing towards him the instant before it slammed into him, forcing him backwards with a startled breathless grunt against the guardian remains.

He stared down at himself in horror, his heart beating painfully fast. Blood poured from him in a veritable river; pain like none he had ever felt jolted through his body, too intense for him to scream, to breathe, to do anything but stare in horror at the messy _hole_ that had been punched through his body.

With wide eyes he lifted his head to meet Zelda's petrified gaze, and then to regard the two remaining guardians aiming at her. And behind those two he could see more, scampering over the hills towards them, several of them spotting the Princess and quickly taking aim.

"_N-no,"_ he croaked, mustering the strength to suck in one shallow breath. The Master Sword clattered from his fingers as he clamped his hands around the devastating wound in his side, taking a step towards her that felt a mile long.

_You've failed. You're going to die._

_And so is she._

"_No!"_

Holding his breath, he forced himself to run one last time, jerking one shaking leg in front of the other as fast as he could, even as blood spewed from his body in horrifying amounts. Zelda was staring at him, tears streaking down her face, shaking her head. He could barely hear her. But when he reached her, she fought against him as he tried to put himself in front of her, slapped his bloodied hands away.

The guardians' beeping sped up. Terrified for her, Link summoned the last of his strength to shove her away, only to suddenly find himself on his aching back, staring up at the smoky sky. At Zelda standing tall over him, facing the guardians with her hands outstretched.

And a wave of golden light pulsated from her palm, expanding outwards, pure and beautiful, bathing the field in shimmering brightness that at first seemed to have no effect. But the guardians went still, and the light in their eyes and across their dome-shaped bodies flickered and faded away. She stood for a moment, her body shining with power, until at last it faded and she turned to face him.


	7. Chapter 7

**WHEN LIGHTNING STRIKES**

**==]—=** ... **=—[==**

**I hope this story was meaningful in some way to anyone who's reading it! I'd like to especially thank everyone who has reviewed; I really enjoy reading your responses, feedback, and suggestions for improvement! So thank you AriTheDoggo, Saffron 465, A random guest, Maya-430, Guest, aso083, The Silverblood Writer, cutecutie331, abciluvpie, and James Birdsong!**

**I've been talking about a lynel/shock arrow story for a while now, and this time I _think_ I can say for certain that it'll be the next story I post on here. Until then, I wish you all the best of luck in your lives!**

**==]—=** ... **=—[==**

_I did it. There was no fear - only him, protecting him, and -_

Zelda's heart lurched as she saw him, convulsing feebly as his crimson life stained the grass. Tears of raw agony trickled down his cheeks as he stared at her through half-closed eyes dulled by pain; he was whimpering feebly, shuddering, his rasping breaths uneven and strained.

"L-Link?" she asked shakily, kneeling at his side. "C-can you hear me?" Before he could respond she grabbed at her billowing white sleeve, tearing it from her arm - they were running out of material to use for his wounds - and pressing it to his side, inhaling sharply at his sudden weak cry of pain. Quickly she tore her other sleeve, twisting it into a long strip before pulling it around his torso and tying her makeshift bandage in place. "You're going to be just fine," she assured him, tearing her eyes away from white cloth that was nearly instantly drenched in red, trying not to understand the implications of his entirely colorless face. "We've nearly reached the stable; someone there will be able to help you, and everything will be alright…"

He closed his eyes for a moment, his features tightening into grim determination as he nodded stiffly. "H-help me up," he croaked, his voice tense and breathless and hardly recognizable. Zelda studied him anxiously, torn - she was not strong enough carry him, so he would have to do at least some of the walking on his own. But perhaps leaving him here would be better; the only question was, would he last long enough for help to get back to him?

Carefully she bent down, with some difficulty sliding the Master Sword through her own belt before pulling his left arm over her shoulders and curling her arm around him. "Ready?" she asked, forcing fear from her voice. Link didn't respond, his eyelids drooping, but she stood anyway, staggering slightly as she adjusted to his weight all but entirely resting on her. "Hold on."

Step by step she began towards the stable, wishing she could run all the way there and yet fearing to go too fast for Link's battered body to handle. His warm blood ran over her arm across his back; she hated the feel of it, hated the memory of his wide, desperate eyes as he tackled her to safety, as he turned just a moment too late to escape and bore the full brunt of a guardian's blast with a spray of blood -

His breaths came in shallow, wheezing gasps, each one sounding as if it was forcibly dragged from his lungs. His dragging steps grew weaker and weaker until Zelda was all but carrying him as he tried to scrape his right leg forward. Cold sweat drenched his slender frame as he quivered from the agony and the effort; desperate breaths swiftly turned to pained gasps, and his body trembled more and more violently with each slow step.

He made it to the bridge. Then it became too much, and he slid from her grasp, doubling over and clutching his bleeding side, coughing feebly as blood spurted from his lips. "Zelda," he choked, looking up at her with sad blue eyes clouded over with anguish.

She didn't know what to say as she knelt at his side. He was dying, and in immense agony from the looks of it. Blood drenched his narrow chest and dripped from his mouth and nostrils as he gazed at her.

"W-w-want to live," he choked out, slowly writhing as he spoke.

Her heart sank. "You will," she whispered pleadingly, gently taking his limp, cold hand in both of hers. "Link, y-you can make it."

His back arched. "I will… l-live.. F-for you," he promised breathlessly, even as his body trembled violently and he screamed hoarsely, his body twisting. Death had come to claim him, but he was fighting against it with everything he had left.

_Soon he won't have a choice._

Tears spilled down her face, dripping onto his hand wrapped in hers. "Link, you'll be alright," she wept brokenly. "We're so close to the stable; we'll get help, and everything - everything…"

She couldn't tell if he could actually hear her or not. His eyes had lost their focus; his heartbreaking convulsions were steadily weakening, the flow of blood from his wounds slowing even as his pulse throbbed rapidly in his neck. A cough bubbled up from his throat and he whimpered, a fresh stream of blood trickling down his chin. Eyes with hardly any light left in them sluggishly rolled to meet her gaze. "Did we win?" he murmured, a violent tremor wracking his body.

_He's dying… he's _dying…

Struggling to hold her tears at bay for his sake, she gently lifted his head onto her lap and brushed his sweat-drenched hair from his eyes. "We made it to safety," she answered, blinking quickly and watching as a tear landed on his white face despite her attempts to hold it back.

"S-safe… R'you safe?" he mumbled, the words riding barely audible on a shallow breath.

Zelda's chest trembled and she held him close, even as his body twitched and his breath caught in his throat with a faint pained cry. "Yes," she gasped, fighting to hold steady, just a little longer -

"Good…" Link mumbled, his eyelids slipping closed. "I… didn't fail you…"

"No, no, of course not," Zelda soothed, wiping her eyes. "Y-you've _never_ failed me; you were always… _Link?"_

Everything was silent. Link had gone suddenly very still, his face frozen in a final grimace of agony. His body, pale in stark contrast to the deep crimson splashed across it, had gone utterly limp on the weathered wooden planks of the bridge. Zelda swallowed thickly, feeling her barriers crumbling away. Tears spilled freely from her eyes and she sobbed, curling on her side next to him, wrapping herself around his right arm as if somehow it would bring him back. Whimpering his name as the sun set in fiery red and orange on the horizon, she prayed to the Goddesses to give him back, to heal his wounds, to not take him away as they had taken so many others that she loved…

And with a faint chime, a voice spoke in her head.

"_Shrine… take him… of Resurrection…"_

Startled, she raised her head slightly, looking around and finally settling her gaze upon the Master Sword, splattered in its wielder's blood, lying on the bridge some feet hilt flashed a pale blue, and the chime repeated itself. "_Shrine… take him… Shrine of… Resurrection…"_

Her heart pounded; she hardly dared to hope. "So… he can still be saved…?"

A whinny sounded nearby, and she turned, startled, to see two riders on night-black horses racing towards her. As they neared, she recognized the Sheikah uniforms. "Impa… Robbie?"

"Princess!" Robbie called, raising his hand in greeting. "Thank Farore - I feared we'd be too late when we saw the guardian blasts and the smoke -"

"What are you doing here?" Zelda asked, disbelief clasping her heart. This couldn't be real; she was hallucinating out of grief -

"After you and that sorry excuse of a knight left Kakariko, and we saw the Divine Beasts fall, we decided to send warriors down to see what we could do," Impa explained, dismounting and hurrying nearer. Her gaze darkened upon seeing Link's battered body. "Robbie and I scouted ahead. Purah is waiting at the Shrine of Resurrection -"

"Take him there," Zelda interrupted desperately, fresh tears stinging her eyes. "If you don't hurry, we'll lose him forever! Please…"

Impa gave her a curt nod, gently lifting Link into her arms. "I'll get him there safely, Princess." She paused, studying his wounds with sadness in her burning gaze. "It will take… a long time for these to heal…"

Zelda inhaled deeply, willing herself to be strong. Power flickered to life within her as she gazed into Link's still face, and confidence replaced the fear in her soul. "I will wait - and fight - as long as necessary," she whispered, slowly rising to her feet and stepping closer to Impa. Link was limp in her arms, his limbs dangling grotesquely. Biting her lip, forcing herself not to look at the blood already staining Impa's clothes, she reached out to cup his face one last time. "This is not goodbye," she murmured, hoping that his spirit, at least, could hear her words. Gently she pressed a kiss to his cold brow. "I _will_ see you again, Link…"

**==]—=** ... **=—[==**

He raised his hand from the bridge with a startled gasp, his heart hammering wildly. Anxiously he pressed his hands to his side, almost certain that his tunic would be damp with blood, that he would be once again facing his death.

Instead, his tunic was damp only with his sweat. There was blood, yes, but not on his side - on his arm, and back, and thigh, and a few other areas, remnants of his battle with Calamity Ganon.

Breathing deeply, he struggled to calm his racing pulse. _So this is it. This is where I… died._

And… that explained what had happened to his side.

He could remember the pain, the merciless agony of bleeding out. And though that pain had faded over a century of healing, even the Shrine of Resurrection had not entirely been enough.

It had been petrifying, waking up in the dark chamber and finding the massive expanse of dark scar tissue on his right side, the edges ragged and uneven, just a slightly different texture from the rest of his skin. When he found a matching scar on his back, he realized that something had impaled him - something had torn a hole through his body, damaging goodness knew what along the way.

Along his travels, he had continually gained proof that that, indeed, was what had happened, though he didn't truly remember it. Every once in a while, usually after a strenuous battle, his side would seize up with near-crippling pain, suggesting that the Shrine hadn't healed him perfectly. And many of the people he'd encountered, especially those who claimed to know him before all that, told him that the hero had fallen in battle defending the Princess. A wound going straight through him was more than enough to be fatal.

But this was the first time he'd actually remembered his death. Shuddering, he curled his arms around his stomach, feeling nauseous.

"...Link?"

He scrambled to his feet at Zelda's approach, doing his best to keep a grimace from his face. "Y-you couldn't sleep either?"

She shrugged with a soft smile. "I haven't had to sleep for a hundred years," she murmured, holding her arms around herself to ward of the night's chill. "I believe I've… forgotten how, if that makes sense."

Link nodded slowly, remembering the days after he'd awakened in the Shrine - it had been difficult to find any rest, no matter how tired he was. "I understand." He tilted his head, looking at her. She still wore her travelling clothes, the sleeves still torn and ragged where she had ripped them away to bind his wound all those years ago. "I'm sorry," he whispered, reaching a hesitant hand out before quickly pulling it back to his side. He bowed his head, cheeks slightly flushed. "I was… _asleep…_ all while you were fighting for this kingdom. I… should've been there." A hint of anger entered his voice, and a wave of self-hatred washed over him.

"You were," Zelda told him quickly, taking a step closer. "Link, I wasn't exactly… _in my body_ all those years; I was in the Sacred Realm. Otherwise I would have aged. You were always with me."

Link swallowed thickly. _Dead. _"With you… in the Sacred Realm?"

She nodded. "You weren't entirely there - you were a bit transparent, if that makes sense. I believe a part of you, a small part, was still in your body, providing just enough life to allow yourself to heal within the Stasis. Certainly you weren't alive, but you weren't quite dead, either. But the point is, you never once left my side. At times you added your strength to mine and wielded a portion of the Triforce against the Calamity, even though my powers tried to reject you."

He blinked slowly, feeling a bit of the weight lift from his shoulders. _Good. So she didn't have to bear that all alone._

_Until I woke up, and my spirit left her._

_This is all because I was in that prison! If only I hadn't done… whatever I did._

A feather-light touch roused him from his thoughts. "I think I can guess why you're out here," she murmured, sliding her fingers around his hand. "You… remembered."

He looked away from her, turning his gaze instead to the river flowing peacefully beneath them. "I've crossed this bridge so many times, but only today, crossing it with you, travelling here from the field _with you,_ did anything feel… _off_ about it."

"That must have been… quite the shock."

Link inhaled deeply and let his breath out in a misty cloud. "Not exactly. I'd… put most of the pieces together already. The hero fell defending the Princess, shortly after Hyrule Castle was overrun by guardians, and I woke up with a massive scar…" He shrugged. "I'm glad I was with you, though. After I … died. Even if I don't remember…"

There was silence after that for several moments. Slowly Link sat down, letting his legs dangle over the water travelling steadily southward, reflecting the soft glow of sunset fireflies as they floated delicately through the still night air. Zelda joined him, not relinquishing her grip on his hand.

"This may be too deep a question," Zelda said, each word slow and deliberate. "But… how much do you remember of… of back then?"

He tilted his head, turning his gaze to the stars before closing his eyes, searching his mind. "Not much. Just… glimpses, flashes of memory, of sensation. Lots of things don't make much sense at all. There was a frog…" His voice trailed off and he frowned, trying to picture it in his head. "There was… a lot of fear. Darkness. I can't tell if it was physical or literal, or maybe both, but… it was there, often." He shifted, leaning back on the hand that Zelda wasn't holding, feeling rough wood beneath his palm. "But after that, there was also hope, and… and something close to happiness. I'd done something - I can't remember what - and ended up in the dungeons. I… I remember feeling terrible about it; the guilt is still there, even though I can't - can't remember why." He paused, glancing sideways at the Princess, who was intently studying the river beneath them. _I haven't spoken to anyone this much before - not since the Shrine. But it just feels… _comfortable. _Like… like I've done it before…_ _I think I can tell her _anything, _and she wouldn't mind listening…_

Clearing his throat with slight embarrassment, he went on. "You were there, too. Actually, that's… that's all I remember about being in the dungeons, and that confused me, because I didn't - I don't think you'd done something bad, too, but I couldn't think of any other reason for you to be there so much." He chuckled nervously, feeling exposed and uncomfortable, delving into a past life he wasn't entirely certain about. "I know it must sound strange that I mostly remember only hope and happiness from all of that time in the dungeons, but it's true. It was… because of you." His smile faded; he closed his eyes again, trying to focus. "I was… alone. Even before the dungeons, I can't remember anything but that darkness, and the feeling of being lost… _alone._ After that… you were with me so much of the time. You made the loneliness fade. You made the darkness seem like a bad dream, and nothing more -" He stopped, his cheeks burning with embarrassment.

"Was it there when you woke up?" Zelda asked softly. "The darkness, I mean."

Link felt himself grow tense_._ "It was," he answered carefully, not wanting to upset her. Not wanting her to think it hadn't been worth it.

But there had been so many days, so many nights, where the yawning black gap in his memories threatened to swallow him whole. Times when he could do nothing but curl his arms around himself and sob, crumbling beneath the weight of the world on his shoulders. Hours spent staring at his left arm and realizing what he'd done to it, and feeling the temptation to do it again, to make himself hurt, to punish himself for his weakness and inadequacy and failings…

"I don't know if it'll ever go away," he murmured with a shiver. "Zelda, I realize it's been a hundred years, and… and I know I might not be remembering everything the right way. But… you were my only friend. Y-you're _still_ my only friend; I might be able to talk to people here and there with a smile, but I'm… I'm afraid. I don't know how, or even if I should, confide in them about… all of this." He stopped himself, taking in a shaking breath. _I'm rambling._ "The point is, I… don't know if I could have survived long enough to get killed by a guardian if not for you." The scar on the underside of his left wrist seemed to prickle; it was the scar that frightened him more than any of the others. "Please - I know we might be… going our separate ways now that the Calamity is gone, and you might want to -"

"I'm not leaving," Zelda interrupted, turning at last to face him. "Not unless you ask me to. Believe it or not, you inspire me, despite - or perhaps because of - everything you've dealt with. You say I helped you - well, you helped me, too. And besides that, you're my friend, Link." Her delicate cheeks seemed to flush. "Maybe more than that, someday. But I want to stay by your side through everything that happens next."

Link felt relief wash through his soul, and he met her gentle smile with one of his own. "Thank you," he whispered, clasping her hand in both of his.

Her blush deepened as her gaze flickered briefly down to their joined hands. "So many things have changed," she murmured. "I've only seen glimpses of what has become of Hyrule through your eyes, through the bond our spirits share. I'm afraid, Link, of what I will find - but you help me conquer fear."

He wanted to duck his head, as he usually did when he felt bashful. But he couldn't tear his eyes away from hers. "I'll do as much as I can for you," he vowed, his heart pounding with the sincerity of his words. Offering a small smile, he murmured, "There are sure to be many dark nights ahead for us, Z… Zelda. No recovery is ever easy. But I promise that I'll always be there for you."

_If lightning strikes again, I'll be ready. I won't fall._


End file.
